The Saliera World Championship
by MasterJJ555
Summary: Betrayed six years ago by his friends, Ash has settled in the distant region of Saliera. After an encounter with those he used to call friends, the World Pokemon Championship is held in Saliera. And what will happen with the shadows that have been following him. Rated T for swearing and violence. An OC-Centric story. If that's not your cup of tea, drink coffee.
1. Over the First Hurdle

**Authors Note: Well, this is my first stories. Hopefully the first of quite a few. I just hope it isn't too crappy. Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon.**

Chapter One: Over the First Hurdle

The blistering sun beat down on the enormous stadium as the crowd waited for the battle to begin. Nearly a hundred thousand people had gathered into the stadium for the battle. Everyone was in high spirits today as they waited. Even though it was incredibly hot out, which came with the fact the stadium was in the center of a desert, everyone was happy. The Saliera league had just finished two weeks prior, and today the winner would be taking on the first of the regions Elite Four.

Even though the crown was over excited about the upcoming battle, most already knew what the results were going to be.

After all, no one has beaten the first Elite once since the construction of the league. The Saliera league was considered the hardest in the Pokémon world. Hell, even the gyms were tougher than the average regions. Earning it the title of the top region in the Pokémon world.

The crowd was growing restless now. The battle was scheduled for twelve o'clock exact, and it was eleven fifty-five.

(Meanwhile, in the Elite trainer room)

The man sighed, "I can't believe I'm actually going to do this." He adjusted his glasses and looked up at the ceiling, "It's going to ruin my bloody reputation".

The only other human looked at him, "I know Mason, I know. But it's the boss's orders." He got up and walked over to Mason, laying his hand on his shoulder, "just remember to make it believable to the crowd", he finished with a small smirk.

"Yeah yeah, just make sure to call the other two and tell them to get over to the stadium, Bruce" Mason answered as he walked to the door to the hallway. He stopped outside a tunnel that led to the field. Nodding to the ref as he walked by him, he waited at the entrance.

'Well, this is for the boss'

(Back on the field)

The crowd cheered loudly as the lavender-haired ref made his way to the center of the field. He waited patiently for the crowd to quiet down before speaking into his microphone.

"Welcome ladies and gentleman, to the first battle of the Saliera Elite Four challenge" he yelled, only to get the crowd even more hyped up. He inwardly sighed as he had to do more waiting. Once the crowd died down again, he spoke up once more.

"The name's James and I will be refereeing this battle today." He smiled when he heard someone yell "Hi James" at the top of their lungs. "Now will you all please help me introduce the challenger, Max Maple" he pronounced with perfectly covered disgust.

Said challenger walked to his side of the field arrogantly as the crowd cheered for him. He was wearing a green golf shirt, with brown shorts. He had dark blue hair and a set of glasses rested upon his face. He was fourteen years old.

'Damn twerp,' James thought with a small scowl on his face that went unnoticed, before he cleared his throat.

"And you all know who this is, from Salemburg city, please give a warm welcome for our very own, MASON WALLACE" he yelled.

The crowd cheered even louder than before as their beloved Elite Four member walked into the arena. He waved slightly to the crowd, which only energized them even more. Mason was dressed in a white dress shirt with a black tie. He had khaki dress pants and black dress shoes. He had medium length messy blonde hair, and he too had a pair of glasses on his face. He looked like a scientist, minus the lab coat. He was 20 years old.

James cleared his throat once more, "this will be a full six-on-six battle. No substitutions are allowed, the winner will be declared when one side has no remaining Pokémon. Mason will choose first." The two combatants got into their boxes, pokeball in hand. "Trainers, summon your Pokémon, and prepare for battle" he raised the flags that no one noticed were in his hands until now.

Mason threw his pokeball, "Smeargle, you're up first". With a flash of light, his female Painter Pokémon appeared on his side of the field, holding onto her tail.

Max smirked, "Piece of cake, Manectric, take it down" he said condescendingly. His blue and yellow Discharge Pokémon took stance on his side, glaring at the Smeargle, who was unaffected by it.

"Begin" James lowered his flags.

Max decided to start early, "Manectric, take it out with a shockwave", electricity started crackling around his Pokémon as it charged up its attack, then launched it at the waiting Smeargle.

Now, shockwave is a move that is said to be undogeable, but that doesn't mean it can't be blocked.

"Protect" was the single command that Mason uttered, still thinking of how to make his plan work.

The electricity hit the green shield that had formed around Smeargle, and then vanished into nothingness.

"Hit it with an Iron Tail, then use Thunder Fang on it" Manectric dashed towards its opponent, who still hadn't moved. He hit her across the face with his currently metallic tail, and then bit down on her tail with an electrically charged bite.

'Well, I can just take out his first Pokémon' Mason thought, "Earthquake". Another single command.

Smeargle jumped up into the air, then came back down and slammed her fists into the ground. The shockwaves traveled through the ground and hit Manectric, knocking it out in one hit.

The crowd cheered loudly as Max returned his Pokémon, before selecting another ball.

"Gallade, you're up." The Pokémon took a defence stance and awaited his master's orders.

"Hit it with a Psycho Cut", the Pokémon grunted as its arms turned blue, then launched the blue energy at his opponent. It struck dead on and Smeargle fainted.

The crowd was shocked to see the Elite's Pokémon go down so easily. With a sigh Mason recalled his Pokémon and whispered his thanks and a sorry to her. He selected his next pokeball.

"Take the field Ditto" with a flash of light, the purple blob know as Ditto appeared.

Before he could issue the command to transform, Max had already commanded Gallade to use Close Combat on it. After the severe beating, Ditto went down.

Now the crowd was really stunned. This Pokémon had taken down two of the Elites. It was almost as if Mason wasn't trying (Oh the irony).

Mason looked genuinely surprised.

He tossed another ball, "Tauros". The bull Pokémon appeared with a flash and stomped his hooves on the ground, its three tails flickering.

"Start things off with Spite", the Wild Bull nodded, and its eyes flashed. To the human eye, nothing happened at all.

"Whatever, Gallade hit it with another Close Combat", Gallade just turned to Max and shook his head, telling him he can't.

"Giga Impact", Mason ordered the STAB move. Tauros took off and leveled Gallade, who barely had enough strength to stand up.

"Now, Brick Break while he's recovering" Gallade teleported behind Tauros and hit it with the super effective move. Upon instinct, Tauros lashed out with its hind legs, hitting Gallade right in the crotch. Gallade grabbed the sacred area, then fell over, knocked out and in tremendous pain.

Mason smirked while Max scowled, returning the fallen, and in great pain, warrior. All of a sudden, Tauros fell unconscious from the previous super effective hit.

"Since Mason has lost three Pokémon, we will take a five minute break" James announced. The two trainers walked off the field and back to their locker rooms as the crowd cheered on.

(Meanwhile with Mason)

"Dammit, this is totally humiliating" he complained as he walked into his locker room.

"I know Mason, but the boss needs this. He needs to fight him." Bruce said while he leaned up against some lockers.

Mason looked at him, "Any news on the others?" he asked.

Bruce nodded "they'll be here in three days' time. They have stuff they need to do back home" he finished.

"I see" Mason said.

The rest of the break flew bye, and before he knew it, Mason was saying his farewells to Bruce again.

(5 Minutes prior, challenger room)

"Arceus, this battle is too easy" Max laughed haughtily as he strode into the locker room for challengers.

"Max, you are doing great out there" Brock complimented as the rest of the group and his family complimented his battle style. The group consisted of Brock Slate, Misty Waterflower, Dawn Berlitz, Iris Drage, Cilan Dent, his sister May, and parents Norman and Caroline.

A few others stood off to the side; they consisted of Paul Slaid, Gary and Samuel Oak, and Tracey Sketchit.

"I don't see how this guy is an Elite Four, or how he's supposedly undefeated. He's pathetic" Max said snidely.

"Well Max, the break is almost over, you should get going" Norman stated. Max nodded and left for the field, while the others went back to their seats.

(Transition to the field, where James was busy finishing his meatball sub)

Once he was done, James pulled out his microphone again.

"Since Mason went first this time, the challenger shall choose first."

Max smirked, "Sceptile, you're up".

Mason silently released his next Pokémon, opening up to be Happiness Pokémon Blissey.

"Begin" James lowered his flags again.

"Sceptile, start off with multiple leaf blades" Sceptile dashed forward, his arms glowing green. He unleashed an onslaught of attacks upon the waiting opponent. After about fifteen seconds he stopped and jumped back, slightly tired.

Mason smirked, "Softboiled".

Blissey raised her arms as the egg in her pouch glowed yellow, then a yellow light in the shape of the egg floated up and melted into her body, giving her a brief yellow outline and restoring a lot of her health.

Max growled, "Use Leaf Blade again". Once more, Sceptile dashed forward, attacking with the glowing extensions on his forearms. After a short while he stopped again, breathing heavier than before.

"Softboiled" Mason said softly again.

The process repeated itself, and Blissey's health was restored.

"Grr, Sceptile, get in there with a Brick Break, then use Focus Blast. Make sure she goes down." Max growled out.

Sceptile grunted from exhaustion and took off, albeit at a slower pace, and smashed his glowing fist into Blissey's stomach. While she was recovering from the super effective attack, Sceptile gathered energy for the Focus Blast, and launched it, hitting her dead on.

Blissey stumbled a bit, before fully falling over, out cold. Mason thanked her for her hard work, before tossing another ball onto the field.

A powerful looking ape Pokémon known as Slaking appeared.

"Fling" Slaking tossed an iron ball that it was holding, hitting Sceptile dead center in the face. Max begrudgingly returned his knocked out starter to its ball.

"Slaking, show them what a real Slaking can do" his own Slaking appeared on the field, having an intense stare down with the opponent.

"Giga Impact" both trainers shouted. The two ape Pokémon took off at one another, cloaked in a purple aura. The collision caused a massive explosion, sending dust and smoke all over the field. Max was knocked over from the force, but Mason stood his ground. Although, his tie was flying all over the place.

Once the cloud had cleared, both Slaking were lying on the ground, a few feet away from each other. Both trainers waited for them to stop loafing around, before simultaneously yelling "Low Sweep/Brick Break".

Max's Pokémon charged with his fist glowing at the other Slaking, hitting it directly in the jaw. Mason's Slaking quickly recovered from the attack and kicked the legs out from under its opponent. It fell to the ground with a mighty crash, dealing an impressive amount of damage due to the weight.

A few seconds passed and once more, the trainers called out their final attacks.

"Giga Impact" they both called out for the second time.

And one last time, they charged one another, cloaked in the familiar purple glow.

After the dust cloud settled again, both Pokémon were on the ground, swirls in their eyes.

The crowd was on the edge of their seats. It was unbelievable. The first Elite Four was on his last Pokémon. This Max kid could actually beat him.

Mason stared at his final pokeball, before heaving a final sigh and tossing it into the air.

"You're up, my old friend".

The Elite's last Pokémon was not one that was commonly seen in the Pokémon world. It was difficult to get one, much more so finding one in the wild. But, it was also his starter Pokémon from many years ago.

"Zee" it chirped while floating in front of his friend, its small arms rotating rapidly. Mason and Porygon-Z waited patiently for Max to make his selection.

"Combusken, finish this!" he yelled. The Young Fowl Pokémon appeared and glared at its opponent. Max got the Combusken as an egg from May's Blaziken and Dawn's Typhlosion. They thought the child would make a great addition to Max's team.

"Combusken, start it off with Bulk Up" Max yelled.

Combusken had a red outline around it as it flexed its small muscles.

Max looked over and saw Mason's mouth move, but he didn't hear a command. He did notice the flash in Porygon-Z's eye. He shook it off though, paying no heed to the possibility of a trap.

"Alright, hit it with Sky Uppercut" Combusken took off at its opponent, his claws glowing a light blue. Porygon-Z stayed hovering where it was though. The claws smashed right into the jaw of the Virtual Pokémon, but it had no effect, as Porygon-Z didn't flinch, nor take damage.

"What!?" Max yelled in disbelief, "That should have been a super effective move, why didn't it do anything."

Mason smirked, "Simple, I had Porygon-Z use Conversion 2 when you used Bulk Up. That move lets Porygon become a type resistant or immune to your last used move type." He looked at his Pokémon, "and it looks like we ended up as a Ghost type".

"Damn, now fighting types won't have any effect" Max muttered under his breath.

"Porygon-Z, give them a volley of Shadow Balls."

The virtual Pokémon gathered a sphere of dark energy rapidly in between its small arms, and then launched it at the Young Fowl, before repeating the process.

Something clicked in Max's head, "That's it. Combusken, use Mirror Move".

Combusken rolled to the side, and a small portal opened in front of him. The Shadow Balls striking where he used to be. Now the attacks were coming out of the portal.

Three of them managed to hit Porygon-Z. It was rather evident that it really hurt the Virtual Pokémon. Two more balls of dark energy hit the Pokémon and it went down.

Silence….

That was all that was heard in the arena. The crowd was stunned beyond belief. Someone had finally done it. Someone had actually beaten the first Elite. After everyone got over their initial shock, the entire stadium burst into cheering.

Max held his head up arrogantly as he walked over to Mason, who stuck his hand out for a friendly handshake.

"Aren't you supposed to be unbeatable?" Max asked like a total dick, while shaking his hand. "You were pretty pathetic to me" he finished with a gloating smirk.

Mason squeezed his hand tighter, enjoying Max's pained face. "Your next battle will be at the same time 3 days from now. Your opponent uses Dragon types." With that, he released Max's hand and walked calmly back to his locker room. Fortunately, no one in the stands heard the conversation; otherwise they wouldn't be too happy with the victor.

(One and a half weeks later, Saliera Stadium, eleven-thirty p.m.)

Unbelievable. That was what was going through the mind of every single person in the audience. The young boy known as Max, had just cleared the Saliera region Elite Four. Something no one in history had done yet.

The light blue haired girl stood in her trainer square as the victor strode up to her. She waited patiently for the dark blue haired boy, but said nothing, opting to remain silent like in the battle.

The referee, a girl with long red hair by the name of Jesse, came up to the two contestants as Max's supporters came as well.

"Congratulations Max," she said monotonously, "Your battle against the champion will be a week from today".

Max stuck out his hand, that same big-headed smirk he had when he defeated the rest. The blue haired beauty looked at his hand, before turning and walking to her trainer room. That caused most of Max's supporters to get angry, including a certain water type specialist who made the unwise decision of opening her mouth.

"How dare you turn your back to us? At least congratulate him on beating you" she seethed. Most of the others, minus Paul, the Oaks and Mrs. Ketchum, agreed with her.

The beauty turned around and spoke in an angelic voice that no one there had expected. "And what, get called pathetic like my comrades. Listen up Maxwell; you better bring your best game with you for the Champion, because he will show no mercy. And he will destroy you." With that, she left into the tunnel, a smirking Jesse following her.

And she was right, Max better bring his A-Game, or things are about to get messy.

**Well that concludes the first chapter. Constructive criticism and feedback would be appreciated. Next Chapter shouldn't take too long.**


	2. The One They Call Champion

Chapter 2: The One They Call Champion

**Authors Note: I was actually really surprised by how many people followed/favorited within the past couple of hours. Thank you to Unbecoming Me for the first follow on this story. I hope you guys like this chapter. Max finally goes up against the Champion. Disclaimer-I don't own Pokemon.**

(One Week Later)

This was it. The ultimate match. For the first time, the champion of the Saliera region was going to be revealed. The stadium was jammed packed; people were even sitting on the stairs!

It was a bit chilly, as the champion match was to be played in the evening. And it got rather cold in the Gerudo Desert of the Saliera region during the after-hours. Even though it was only seven twenty, the sun had already set. Ten minutes 'till the champion match.

(With the champion)

A young man sat cross legged on the floor in the middle of the room. He would have been considered alone, if not for the fact his six chosen Pokémon surrounded him. All seven had their eyes closed and seemed to be deep in thought. They waited patiently to be called down to the field.

(With Max and Co.)

"Well Max, this is it, are you ready for the champion?" Dawn asked.

Max nodded, "Of course, this league was way too easy." He laughed conceitedly. "Besides, this so-called champion is probably nothing if the public doesn't know who they are. They're probably too scared to f what the crowd will think of them. Probably just some stuck up rich kid who had the league built around him and paid people to spread rumors." The rest of the group was laughing now. (A/N a few were missing from the group, not hard to tell who though…)

"At least I can accomplish something too, unlike that pathetic trainer Ketchum" he started, "He couldn't even win a league, and here I am, about to take on a champion." The group laughed harder.

Norman noticed the time on the wall, "Well son, good luck out there and kick this champions ass" he gave his son a hug.

"You can do it Max" the four girls chimed.

"Make us proud" Brock exclaimed as he gave him a bear hug.

"I know you'll do great, my little champion" Caroline said.

"Thanks guys" Max whispered, a smile on his face as he left the room.

(On the field)

The lights were bright that night, illuminating the field. The lone figure known as James stood there, finishing off a tasty burger. Once he was done, he washed it down with some sprite, and popped in a stick of gum. He walked to the center of the field and caught the attention of the crowd as they quieted down. Once the noise was gone, he spoke into his microphone.

"Ladies and gentleman, the challenger, Max Maple" he announced. The audience applauded as he walked to the center of the field, head held high.

A shadow could be seen in the tunnel to the champion's locker room, and the crowd was starting to cheer again.

"And I give to you, our very own champion, appearing for the first time to the public…" he paused building up the suspense, "ASHUUUURAAAAAA!" he yelled at the top of his lungs.

The crowd was roaring as the figure made his way onto the field. The champion was revealed to be a male, looking around 21 years old. He was dressed in black dress pants with a black t-shirt. He had black fingerless gloves, black boots that had a metal strap across the top of them. To top it off, he had a black overcoat with a popped collar, and straps connecting it across the chest. He had unruly black hair and dark brown eyes.

The two combatants met at the center along with James, who began to explain the rules.

"This will be a full six-on-six Pokémon battle. When one Pokémon faints, both are recalled and two new ones are sent out. Once all Pokémon on one side have been defeated, the winner will be declared. The challenger shall choose first"

"You're going down, just like the rest of your pathetic league." Max stated confidently.

Ashura raised his eyebrows, "Is that so?"

"That's right. Your league was supposed to be unbeatable, and I dominated each and every one of them. Only goes to show that I truly am the strongest trainer" Max said cockily.

Ashura smirked, "Well then, hopefully you can prove to be a challenge to me."

His opponent snorted.

"Will the champion and the challenger please head to their trainer boxes." James asked them.

Ashura turned and stepped to his box, overcoat blowing behind him with the slight breeze. Max did the same, but it didn't look as cool because he wasn't wearing an overcoat. The two turned and faced each other, pokéball in hand.

"Trainers, summon your Pokémon, and prepare for battle."

Max threw his sphere, and Gallade took position on the battlefield.

Ashura silently tossed his, and out came a Gallade as well!

James had his arms in the air, and within a split second, he dropped them "Begin".

As soon as his arms dropped, Ashura's Gallade launched a Shadow Ball from its hands, and then charged off at blinding speeds, dashing into an Aerial Ace. The first attack hit Max's Gallade, stunning the Pokémon. Aerial Ace struck it in the chest, knocking it out instantly. The first battle lasted a total of six and a half seconds, give or take. The crowd cheered wildly as the trainers recalled their Pokémon. Well, Max did, Ashura's walked over behind him.

"What the hell was that?" Max yelled at the Champion.

"What was what?" he played along, a teasing smirk on his face.

"How can your Gallade be that fast and how did he attack without your orders?"

Ashura shook his head, "First off, she's a girl, second who said she's a Gallade." He waved his hand behind him at the Pokémon. Said Pokémon jumped into a backflip, becoming a vortex of purple energy, before landing behind Ashura as a completely different being. This time, it was the large bipedal fox known as Zoroark. This one was slightly larger than average.

Max growled as he sent out his next Pokémon, Sceptile.

"'Tile", it growled, waiting for his opponent to be selected.

"Take flight, my old friend" with a graceful toss, the ball sailed through the air, and the silhouette of a large dragon with wings appeared.

Max gulped, that was one tough looking Charizard. It looked like it had gone through countless battles.

"Begin"

"Fly up in the air and then use Flamethrower" Ashura commanded, and the Charizard obeyed.

He flew up about 50 feet before launching a stream of ridiculously hot flames at the grass lizard on the ground. The lizard jumped to the left, taking the initiative.

"Bullet Seed" the lizard opened his mouth and started rapidly firing off small seeds at the flying dragon. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depends on whose side you're on, Charizard was too fast in the air, and managed to easily dodge them all.

"Grab it with Seismic Toss" Ashura ordered. The orange dragon flew behind Sceptile and picked him up under the arms, taking him with him to the sky. Sceptile struggled against him and tried a point blank Bullet Seed, but that proved ineffective as Charizard just brushed them off.

Suddenly, Charizard did a mid-air U-turn and started flying back down to earth. Slowly, he started spinning around as a flame cloaked the two.

When he was around thirty feet away from the ground, he threw Sceptile down.

Sceptile hit the ground with a mighty force, casting dust and sand up in a clouded haze.

Charizard blew the smoke away with one beat of his mighty wings, hoping to see the foe out cold.

He was mildly shocked, however, to see the challengers Pokémon on one knee, struggling for breath.

"Finish him with Blast Burn" Max's eyes widened.

Charizard reared his head, and unleashed a stream of intense flames at the defenseless Pokémon.

Max watched on in horror as his starter Pokémon was consumed by the flames.

Once the attack had ended, Sceptile was revealed lying on his stomach, blackened burn marks all over his body, and out cold. (More like out hot, but whatever….)

Max ran on to the field to his Pokémon's side. After crying out for his partner, Sceptile slowly opened one eye and barely nodded his head. Max returned him to his ball, promising to get him healed during the break. He returned to his trainer box, eyes a little wet, but he wiped them away with the back of his hand.

On the other end of the field, Charizard had taken his spot beside Zoroark behind the champion. In Charizards place was a new Pokémon. It was brown in color and had two, long sickle like arms. It had a large, flat, semicircle-like head with two dark purple eyes.

Kabutops.

An extinct Pokémon was staring Max down. The way it was completely motionless made it seem like a statue. Max's right arm was shaking now. He shut his eyes tightly. It was completely hopeless, he thought. The way two of his strongest Pokémon went down, barely doing any damage to the enemy. The sheer brutality and speed of Ashura's Pokémon, there was no way he could take him down. Could he?

"What's wrong?"

Max's eyes snapped open. He looked across the field to see Ashura. Due to the lighting, he couldn't see his face, but he knew the smirk was there. This is what he wanted.

"You've only lost two Pokémon… Come at Me!" he spread his arms out. He stepped forward and Max could clearly see his smirking face. Taunting him. Begging him to do something stupid. Fueling his rage.

"Send out your powerhouses. Bring in Shuckle. Use your all-powerful team."

Max's anger was rising now.

"Do something. Attack us. What are you waiting for?"

The blood was boiling in his veins.

"The night is still young…Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!"

Ashura had a crazy grin on his face as he insulted Max, who was reaching his breaking point.

"The fun is yet to come! What ever happened to your confidence as you defeated my elites? You're the strongest, aren't you? Hurry! Hurry! HURRY!" he yelled.

"ENOUGH!" Max screamed as he lobbed a pokéball at random. His loyal Mightyena appeared with a snarl at the foe.

Ashura's grin widened. Looks like he still had that nasty temper. Max's anger had taken over. Such a shame he couldn't enjoy it though, he thought.

"Begin"

"Dig" Max screamed.

The bite Pokémon dug a hole using its front paws, disappearing down below the sand.

A few seconds passed, before Kabutops shifted right, Mightyena bursting from the sand below where he used to be half a second later.

"Again"

This pattern continued on for a few minutes, until Ashura got bored of it.

"X-Scissor when it appears" even though the command was a hushed whisper, Kabutops picked up on it and nodded.

And sure enough, Mightyena popped up again. Swiftly, with the back of his sickle-like arm, he knocked Mightyena to the ground, and hit it with attack after attack.

Eventually, the dark type went down, and Kabutops jumped back to his master's side.

Max fell to his knees.

"Since the challenger has lost half of his team, we shall take a ten minute break" James announced as he raised his right flag, pointing it at Max.

Ashura turned and left for his locker room, his overcoat sweeping behind him. Max got up on slightly shaky legs and went to his room as well.

(Champions Room)

"Good job you three" Ashura said as he released his Pokémon. The three that had already fought so far nodded their heads, accepting his praise. Ashura turned to the three that have yet to make an appearance in battle, "I think we should play with him for a little while longer. Try and savor the moment."

'**Of course master**' a feminine voice echoed in his mind.

Ashura sighed, '**Laura, I keep telling you, you don't have to call me master, you're my friend.**'

'**My apologies, master Ashura**.' Laura replied.

Well, at least she wasn't calling him just master, Ashura thought.

(Challenger Room)

"Max!" his head snapped up as he saw his friends and family approaching him.

"Max, what's happening out there?" Brock asked him as they crowded around him.

Max shook his head slowly, "I don't know. His Pokémon, they're just too strong."

"That may be true," his father began, "but you have some strong Pokémon of your own, don't you?"

Max started to smile, "Yeah, you're right."

"That's right, now go out there and kick his ass just like you did to the rest of the Elite Four!" May yelled in an encouraging tone, the others agreeing with her.

"And remember, we're all proud of you, no matter the outcome of this battle." His mother added.

"Thanks, also, can one of you take my Pokémon to the center to get healed?" he asked, holding out the balls containing the fainted Pokémon.

Brock nodded his head and took them.

(Elite Four box)

"Damn, it's been so long since I've seen him battle I've forgotten how powerful he is." Mason stated. Two of the other elites nodded, while one still remained motionless.

"I hope he's enjoying it and we didn't lose our reputations for nothing" the other male in the room said.

"Don't worry," one of the two girls spoke up, "he would have done the same for us."

The fourth still remained silent.

(Back on the Field)

We find James sitting in his referee chair, playing a game of Angry Pidgeys on his IPod. After a minute, his wristwatch went off, telling him the ten minutes were up. He got up and stuffed his IPod back in his pocket, and walked over to the sidelines.

As he was doing so, the challenger and champion were returning to their boxes as well. Ashura's Pokémon were still out of their balls. He brought up his microphone, tapping once on it to see if it was on. The resounding boom confirming his suspicion, as well as hushing the crowd.

"Since Max chose first earlier, Ashura will be selecting first this time." He announced.

"Garchomp, battle stance" Ashura declared as he threw his pokéball. The land shark came out with a menacing roar directed at Max. It scared most of the younger people in the audience. Just looking at him, one could tell that he was very well trained.

Max threw his pokéball, "Salamence, take flight." The Dragon Pokémon appeared with a roar as well, but his wasn't as loud as Garchomp's. The two fierce pseud-legends stared each other down, waiting for the signal.

James raised up his arms, looking at both contestants and receiving a nod from each. He dropped them again, shouting "Begin".

"Dragon Rush" Max called out. Salamence let out another roar as it was cloaked in a blue aura, before charging at Garchomp.

As soon as it was about to make contact, Garchomp caught him in his arms, stopping the attack completely. The crowd was in shock as Garchomp raised his right fin and brought it down on Salamence's head in a Dragon Claw. Salamence smashed into the ground and Garchomp jumped over him, dashing to the other side of the field.

"Sandstorm" Garchomp started spinning sideways in the sand, as a giant sand tornado formed around him. He had surprisingly good control on it too, as it only took up half of the field and wasn't near the crowd. The only problem for the challengers was that Garchomp was no longer visible from outside the storm.

"Salamence," Max called out to his Pokémon, "Do what you have to in there; it looks like you'll be on your own." Salamence nodded and slowly flew into the sandstorm, not knowing what to expect.

Salamence growled as the sand pelted him from all directions. He could barely see as it is; now he had to put up with this. It had been a minute within the sandstorm and no sign of his enemy. A shadow grew behind him and he turned and slashed at it with Dragon Claw. The shadow was cut in two and disappeared into nothing, which could only mean one thing.

Substitute.

Another shadow came at him, and had the same effect when he slashed it. Eventually, the sandstorm died down and Garchomp was still nowhere to be seen.

All of a sudden, the ground split in front of Salamence as Garchomp burst from it, a ball of orange energy glowing in its mouth. Salamence's eyes widened before it was hit by the Hyper Beam, which fully consumed it.

The attack died down seconds later, and Salamence crashed to the ground, defeated. Garchomp flew over to the other Pokémon on Ashura's side while Salamence was returned to his ball.

"Slaking, take charge" the Ape Pokémon appeared, lying down on his side.

Ashura tossed out his next ball wordlessly, which triggered a gasp from pretty much everyone in the arena. There standing in front of Ashura, was a Lucario. But not just any Lucario. Where a regular Lucario would have blue fur, she had pure white. Where she was supposed to be black in color, she was red. The patch of yellow fur on her chest was now a light blue, the same color as her eyes. The spikes on her hands and chest were golden instead of white.

'**Master Ashura, why is everyone staring at me?' **she asked nervously through their aura connection.

Ashura chuckled, '**Perhaps they have never seen such a marvelous creature before**'.

"Begin."

Nothing happened. Max and Slaking waited for their opponents to make the first move, but they stood still instead. A minute passed and no orders were issued.

"Fine then. Slaking, charge in there with Giga Impact" Max ordered. The ape charged at the Lucario, who in response took off at Slaking with Extreme Speed. As soon as they were about to meet, Lucario dropped into a slide so she could pass under Slaking and raised her right hand.

The Ape's anger rose from the cheap hit, but had to sit back down due to Giga Impact and Traunt. Laura started circling around the recharging opponent.

"Focus Blast" Slaking started gathering energy for his attack, while Laura did the same with Aura Sphere, which was exceptionally large. Both Pokémon released their attacks, which collided with one another. The resulting explosion sent plenty of sand up to block off the view for most, but not Laura. Laura ran in and delivered a powerful Close Combat attack and jumped back before the Ape could respond.

"Damn it, use Earthquake" Slaking slammed his mighty fists on the ground, sending shockwaves towards the Aura Pokémon. But she jumped far into the air at the last second. What happened next shocked most of the people there.

Laura raised both of her hands over her head for a split second, before bringing them downwards and unleashing a massive beam of aura on the Slaking. It couldn't even be considered a beam; it was like a pillar of light. It looked stronger than a Hyper Beam from a Gyarados.

When the attack finished seconds later, Laura was back on the ground, kneeling and gasping for breath. Slaking on the other hand, was badly burnt and out of the game, probably for a week or so. Ashura went over and helped Laura back to the others while Max recalled his fifth fallen Pokémon.

"Max," Ashura called over the cheer of the crowd. "You have fought well (lies), but I am giving you the chance to give in. My next Pokémon is one you have no chance of beating."

"I highly doubt that, because I've yet to reveal my strongest Pokémon. Go, Jirachi." And true to his word, the Wish Pokémon appeared. Ashura was mildly shocked. He sure wasn't expecting Max to have a legendary in his arsenal.

"Makes little difference," Ashura responded before throwing a Master Ball. The creature that came out of it rivaled Ashura in height. It looked humanoid, but had some feline features as well. He was mostly grey, but had a long purple tail. He wielded a large spoon in one hand. Mewtwo, the Genetic Pokémon stood still on his side of the field, staring down the Psychic/Steel legendary. He shifted his gaze to its owner and frowned in disdain.

"What Pokémon is that?" Max asked, but he received no answer.

"Begin."

Mewtwo dashed forwards with great speed, bringing his spoon up above his head.

"Jirachi, Protect"

The green shield formed around the fairy, but proved useless as Mewtwo's spoon smashed through the shield, knocking Jirachi to the ground. Jirachi attempted to use Psychic, but Mewtwo brushed it off and retaliated with his own Psychic. Jirachi cried out in pain even though it wasn't super effective. Deciding he had caused enough damage for now, Mewtwo floated back to Ashura.

Max came to the conclusion that it must be a Psychic, so there were only three types that could hurt it. "Shadow Ball."

The ball of dark energy (I know it's a ghost type move) flew at Mewtwo, who treated it like a baseball and knocked it out of the arena.

"Try a Signal beam" the multicolored beam shot out of Jirachi's hands and towards Mewtwo, who once again, deflected it with his spoon.

'_Ashura, I grow tired of these games. Shall I end it now?' _Mewtwo asked Ashura privately. His response was a nod from the trainer. His spoon vanished into thin air as he began gathering energy for a final attack. The purplish energy gathered between his two hands as he brought them to his side, and then launched it at Jirachi.

The Wish granter cried out in pain as it was hit by the Psystrike engulfed it. After a minute of taking the attack, Mewtwo called it off. Jirachi gently floated down, but was caught by Max, who had tears in the corner of his eyes. Mewtwo floated to Ashura's Pokémon and teleported with them to who knows where, while Ashura walked up to Max. The crowd was roaring after watching the champion sweep the challenger.

"Checkmate" Ashura said to Max, who was still cradling Jirachi.

James ran up to the two with his microphone, "Well folks, did you enjoy that?" The crowd cheered in approval. "Well, our champion has a few things to say to the world, so I'm going to pass it over to him."

Ashura received the microphone and waited for the crowd to die down a bit. "Greetings. As you know, my name is Ashura. Now, I have some exciting news for you. The Pokémon League has decided to host the very first World Championship Tournament here in the Saliera region."

A chorus of cheering broke out and the champion patiently waited for them to quiet down. "I can only give you the basics right now, all Champions, Elite Four and Gym Leaders are already qualified to enter and have been sent a pass. There will be 512 contestants in this tournament. Invitations are already being sent to the trainers who have qualified for it. The tournament will begin two months from now, so start training." With that he handed the mic back to James and walked off into the tunnel. James followed him as well, and Max walked slowly back to his room, where his friends and family would meet him.

**Well, I hope I did a good job with this one. The reason this one came out so fast was the fact that it was half way typed when I posted the first chapter, so the others more than likely won't come out so fast. **


	3. Talk of Future Events

**Authors Note: I would like to thank Farla for correcting me on some of the grammatical errors I had in previous chapters. I spent a good but of time reading his/her grammar guide. And yes, I know Ash was overpowered in the battle. That was just to destroy Max, (never liked him). And the reason why he has Mewtwo will be explained in later chapters. **

* * *

Chapter 3: Talk of Future Events

It had been two weeks since the champion match. There was a slight breeze rolling through the city. The sun was shining brightly. Some might call it the perfect day for a get together. Two cloaked figures walked down the main street of Silver city, headed for a certain café. Hoping the cloaks would keep their identities concealed.

"Beautiful weather, eh?" the man on the right asked.

The man on the left turned his gaze to his long-time friend, "when do we never have beautiful weather Bruce?" he asked back.

"Well, I heard the weather up in Snowpeak isn't too pretty, Mason," Bruce replied.

Mason chuckled, "would this have anything to do with being a dragon master?"

Bruce shook his head with a smirk on his face, knowing that Mason had him there. "How do you think she can stand it up there?"

"Because she was born there, why else do you think we call her the Ice Queen." Mason answered.

"Gee I don't know, maybe it's because she has a heart of ice."

The two rounded the corner and kept talking, "Don't be like that man, you know she's just quiet. It's in her nature."

"We've been friends for what, five years now? And she still rarely talks to us. She only ever opens up if Master Ashura's around."

"You know it's because of her past. Someone like her shouldn't have had to go through that..."

Mason and Bruce went silent. They rounded another corner. Not far from the café now. "So who's all coming for the party?" Bruce asked.

Mason thought about it for a second, "Well, the gym leaders should all be there by now, then there's you and me. Ashura is currently in Kakariko to pay his respects with Natalie, and then he's heading to Iglace to get her."

The two approached the door to the café. A sign on it told them the café was reserved for today, but it meant little to them since they were guests at the party. Mason grabbed the door handle and turned back to Bruce, "Well, shall we?"

Bruce nodded, and Mason turned the handle on the door, stepping through it into the crowded café with his best friend.

* * *

It was eerily quiet. Two figures stood in the lonely cemetery. One was standing a few paces behind the other, her eyes closed. The other was on both of his knees, his right hand resting atop a small mound of dirt. He was mumbling inaudible words to himself. There were dried tears upon his face. After a few minutes, he got up, still looking at the grave. He spoke in a hushed whisper to his best friends grave, "I will see you again my friend…but not yet. Not yet."

He turned around to look at his Elite, to find her still paying respects. Natalie Hall, the third in the Elite Four, Ghost type specialist. She had curly reddish-pink hair that went down to her shoulders. Dressed in a purple long sleeved sweater with a dark purple poncho that covered more of her left side, black sweat pants and grey sneakers.

Natalie was born here in Kakariko, and takes it upon herself to look after the graveyard, holding funerals for trainers who lost their Pokémon friend, or families who lost one of their own.

"Natalie" he spoke, waking the girl from her thoughts. She nodded at him and they left the cemetery together. "So, are you going?" he questioned.

"Yeah, you?"

He nodded, "I need to get Arianna first though".

Natalie looked at him for a few seconds, before asking "You mind if I tag along?"

Ashura thought about, and looked her over once, "You're going to need something warmer than that."

Natalie just waved him off, saying "I'll be fine."

* * *

Natalie felt a massive shiver as she rubbed her arms in an attempt to warm up. Snow blew fiercely all around her, and her hair was a mess. They had only arrived 4 minutes ago via Mewtwo's teleportation, and she was already frozen.

'How the hell can she stand living up here' Natalie thought to herself. She suddenly felt something drape over her shoulders and the chill from the wind and snow stopped. Looking down, she found Ashura's overcoat had been placed on her. She blushed from the kind act, but it was too hard to tell since her cheeks were already red from the cold.

"What about you?" she asked. Looking back, he was only with a black long-sleeved.

"We'll only be here for a few minutes." He didn't even look like he was affected by the cold. The two made their way out of the tiny village and further up the mountain. It wasn't long before a figure could be seen standing a small distance away. Said figure was looking out across the mountains to the south, where the desert could be found. Due to the weather though, all that could be seen was the blizzard.

Ashura and Natalie walked forward, but stopped two meters away. The person had short, light-blue hair. Dressed in a white ski jacket with a fluffy collar, white jeans and white ski boots. Well, they were either colored white, or it was from the snow.

"Arianna," Ashura called out. The blue haired girl turned around to face them.

Arianna Griffith, the fourth member of the elite four. A specialist in ice types, she was born in the remote village of Iglace, located up in the Snowpeak Mountains.

Arianna nodded and walked over to Ashura and Natalie, taking the spot on his left. Ashura reached for the master ball on his belt, releasing mewtwo.

'Where to, Ashura?' the genetic being asked.

"Take us just outside Andrew's café please."

Mewtwo nodded and began focusing, and then the four disappeared from the snowstorm.

* * *

The atmosphere in the room was that of a cheery one. It was like a family reunion at Christmas time, except it wasn't Christmas. But if you asked the group, they would consider themselves one, big happy family.

Mason was currently seated at the bar, watching the blonde on stage playing her guitar. Sylvia Glashow, the electric gym leader of Saliera. Someone had asked her if she could go up and play for them, but she had been too embarrassed. After much convincing, she finally went up for them. And truth be told, she was a good guitarist at that.

He sighed in content as he looked around the room. He spotted Antonio at one of the further tables talking to the two youngest gym leaders. More than likely telling them stories of one of his past adventures. Based on the look of awe on their faces, he was right.

Shifting his gaze, he noticed most of the female gym leaders had gathered around one table. Danny and Elijah were talking with one another while watching Sylvia as well. Pierre, Bruce and Lucilla had started a poker game between the three of them a while ago.

The sound of a glass clinking down in front of him brought him out of his train of thought. He looked down to see the cola he ordered. The one who had placed it smiling down at him.

"Thanks, Andrew," he said, taking a sip.

The owner of the café surveyed the scene. "I could get used to this," he said, pouring himself a glass.

The two knocked their glasses together, saying cheers and taking a long drink. Mason put his glass back down and looked at the older man. "So, how's life been treating you?"

Andrew scratched the back of his head, "well, it's been pretty quiet since the seasons over. But there's been more people coming down to the café. How about you?"

Mason sighed, "well, my reputation as undefeated is gone. But other than that, nothing much has changed."

Andrew was quiet, as if thinking about something. "Why didn't Ashura just have that Max kid skip you guys and go straight to the champion instead? That way, you could have kept your reputation and Ashura would still have battled him."

"Well, it's too late to change that now," he shrugged.

* * *

"…And that is how I caught my arbok." Antonio finished telling his story to the two younger gym leaders.

The two girls were in a mixture of shock and awe at their elder's story. "But what about the poison?" the girl with white hair asked.

"Well, since she was just an ekans back then, she didn't have any poison in her bite. But…" he rolled up his left sleeve, revealing the scars from what looked like a large bite mark, "…she did leave me with this."

The girls gasped again at the scar.

* * *

Bruce looked up from his hand, meeting the waiting glances of his opponents. He looked back down at his cards before flipping them over for the others to see.

"Full house, arceus' over mews," he stated triumphantly. Lucilla and Pierre grumbled in annoyance as Bruce collected the money on the table. Suddenly, the door to the café swung open and everyone turned their heads to look at the newcomers.

The first to walk in was Natalie, who was still wearing Ashura's coat. After her was Arianna who wore a calm look on her face. And lastly, there was Ashura, who was instantly hugged by two young girls as soon as he entered.

"Hello Luna, Soleil." He smiled as he hugged the girls back. Everyone else got up to greet him as well, congratulating him on the win as well. Once everyone was finished, Andrew brought out the food and dinner was started.

After supper, everyone was chatting happily amongst themselves. Molly Burgess, the grass type gym leader, asked Ashura if he had any new details on the upcoming tournament. Now everyone was waiting for him to answer her question.

"Well, aside from what you heard after the battle, the reward has been decided on ten million pokédollars," he explained.

Serenity, the water gym leader, and younger sister of Pierre and Molly, let out a whistle. "That's a lot of money."

Ashura nodded, "which is why the tournament will only be held once every decade."

The flying gym leader, Elijah, nodded. "Makes sense when you think about it."

"Also…" Ashura continued, "…the winner will have the chance to fight me for my title, since I will not be participating."

"Why not?" Danny, the bug leader asked.

Ashura looked at him, "because, since the position of the champion of the region the tournament is hosted in is at stake, the champion themself isn't allowed to enter."

The others nodded at that. "There's another thing that I would like to discuss with you all," he said. "There has been talk of trainer's pokémon getting stolen from them."

"Is it Shadow?" Luna asked. A certain pokeball belonging to most of the people there shook in anger at the mention of Shadow.

Ashura shrugged, "we don't know yet. It could be them, maybe Team Rocket, it could be just one person."

"Besides…" Cassia, the fighting expert added, "…we took care of Shadow years ago."

"That's true Cassia, but we weren't the first to do so, remember," Britney, the rock gym leader reminded her.

Soleil looked to Ashura, "what should we do about this?"

"I'll be looking into this alone. I need you guys in your respective cities, in case it happens again. Hopefully, we can gather more information on our enemy." They all nodded. "Besides, you all will have to train for the tournament as well."

The talking continued for a while, topics ranging from personal lives to the news. Eventually, it started getting late and the gym leaders/elites left for their homes, one by one. Soon enough, it was just Ashura, Andrew and Antonio left.

"Do you think it's them, boss?" Antonio asked Ashura.

Ashura sighed, "I don't know, but I hope it's not them. We don't need a repeat of 3 years ago. Especially with the tournament so close."

Andrew looked up from the mug he was cleaning, "so where will you be going to first?"

He thought about it for a while, before responding, "the latest reporting was out in Silverwood, so I think I'll start there, see where that leads me." He nodded to the other two before putting his coat back on, Natalie gave it back before she left, said goodbye and disappeared into the night.

* * *

**That took longer than expected to write. Then again, I did procrastinate for a while. But anyway, I have a favor to ask of you guys. For the upcoming tournament, I would appreciate it if you could send me some OC's so I don't have to create them all myself. How far your oc goes is up to chance, but one may make it to the finals. Just fill out the below form if you want to submit an OC. **

**Name:**

**Age: **

**Gender:**

**Hair Color:**

**Eye Color:**

**Personality:**

**Design:**

**Team:**

**Hometown:**


	4. Opening Ceremony, Exhibition Match

**Authors note: Damn me and my laziness, that one took longer than it should have, and I apologize for that. Thanks to everyone who submitted your OC, and may the odds be ever in your favor. ...That was my lame attempt at humor... **

**Disclaimer: Still don't own pokemon...not yet.**

* * *

****Chapter 4: Opening Ceremony, Exhibition Match

The past two months had flown by for most of the people participating. They had all been busy training for the tournament, and now, it was finally time. All of the participants had gathered on the field of the main stadium in the desert for the opening ceremony. Friends and family had gathered up in the stands. And as usual, it was noisy in the stadium.

On the field, a small stage had been set up. There was an unoccupied podium, as well as six occupied chairs behind it. In the first chair was a small, old man with a big white beard. He had a red sweater on with green shorts and a backwards baseball cap. Said man was Charles Goodshow, the president of the pokémon league.

Next to him was a man looking to be in his late thirties. He had spiky red hair, and was wearing a blue outfit with a black and red cape. Lance, the champion of the Kanto and Johto regions was conversing with the older man to his left, as well as the one on his right.

In the next chair, was a man possibly a year or three younger than Lance. He had silver hair and wore a black suit with purple zigzags on the jacket. Steven Stone, the son of Devon Corporations president, and the champion of the Hoenn region, was happily chatting with Lance and Charles.

Continuing down the line was the only female of the group. She had long blonde hair that covered the left side of her face. She was dressed in all black and if one were to guess, they would say she was no older than thirty. Cynthia, the beautiful champion of Sinnoh was listening to the older man on her left rant about how the sand kept getting in his sandals.

Said complaining man was Alder, the Unova champion. He was older than the other champions, but not as old as Mr. Goodshow. He had spiky red and orange hair. His attire looked rather native-like.

Finally, on the end of the line was none other than Saliera champion Ashura. He was currently keeping quiet, his head lowered and eyes closed with his arms crossed over his chest. He looked as if he was sleeping, but he was just in deep thought.

Eventually, Charles nodded to the other two and got up, walking over to the podium. Goodshow tapped the microphone twice, the resounding boom grabbing everyone's attention. Everyone went silent as all eyes were now on the old man.

"Hello, and welcome to the very first World Championship Tournament," he announced. The crowd cheered out and he had to make several hand motions to get them to calm down. "As most of you are aware, my name is Charles Goodshow, and I'm the president of the Pokémon league."

He looked out at the large group of trainers gathered on the field, "I would like to congratulate all the participants that have gathered here tonight, for they and their Pokémon have truly shown strength and talent in battle."

The crowd once again cheered for the trainers, Goodshow waiting until they were done to continue. "As you know, there are five hundred and twelve of you participating. There will be six rounds, removing half of the players each round, until only one of you stands victorious." He paused to breathe, and then continued, "As you may already know, the winner will be awarded not only ten million pokédollars, but the chance to battle champion Ashura for his title."

At this, everyone looked to the champion, who still had his eyes closed. He didn't stir whatsoever, making it look like he was still asleep. It wasn't until Mr. Goodshow's next statement that he moved.

"And now, the champion will say a few words."

Ashura opened his eyes and got up slowly, walking over to the podium as Charles sat back down. Standing before the podium, he looked out into the crowd, scanning their faces. He managed to spot a few people he knew personally, like Paul and Gary, even Trip. As he suspected, all the gym leaders had shown up as well. The seven frontier brains he faced years ago were here as well, and some elites he crossed paths with on his previous journeys. Then of course were those he considered family.

He cleared his throat before speaking into the microphone, "Thank you all for making it out here tonight. As Charles mentioned, there will be six rounds in the tournament, followed by the quarter finals, the semifinals, and the finals. It will take a minimum of a week to finish. The first six rounds will be three on three with no substitutions, and the final three will consist of six on six battles. The first battle will start tomorrow. You can find battle schedules in the Pokémon centers." He paused to think for a bit, before continuing, "all of you gathered here, are some of the strongest trainers of this generation, and this is the time to prove your skill. While only one of you will win, that doesn't mean you aren't strong. Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. Tournaments like this are perfect opportunities to overcome those weaknesses and learn new things, people and Pokémon alike. But above everything, remember to have fun, no matter what. I wish all of you the best of luck."

Everyone clapped at his little speech, but it died down as they saw he was about to speak again.

"If I could get all the participants to please head to the stands while maintenance removes the stage. Champion Lance and I will be having a three on three exhibition match to start off the tournament." With that, he stepped of the stage and left for the tunnel leading to his locker room, Lance heading for his. The rest of the champions, elites, and Charles left to head to the VIP box, while the remaining trainers went back to the stands. However, a select few followed Ashura back to his room.

* * *

"So?" the question hit him as soon as they entered the room. He looked up at Britney, the one who had asked him. He had a feeling they would have questions for him when they saw him. They hadn't seen him since their last meeting two months ago.

Ashura sighed and shook his head, "nothing on who is doing it in particular. But we aren't the only regions this has been reported in. The others are getting hit too. But even there, it isn't clear who's behind it."

The group was in silence for a few minutes before a knock at the door came. The door opened and three champions walked in, Lance first, followed by Steven and Cynthia. The three older champions looked at the younger one while Ashura's group stared back. Finally, Lance stepped forward and embraced Ashura in a hug.

"It's good to see you again, Ash." Lance said as he tightened his hug on the younger man. Ashura stiffened momentarily, but relaxed and hugged Lance back.

"How did you figure it out?" He asked.

Lance stepped back and chuckled, "it's hard to forget someone like you." Ashura nodded at that. "So, this is where you've been these past five years?" Ashura nodded again.

Cynthia stepped forward, "but why did you leave in the first place?"

Ashura got a dark look in his eye, "let's just say my traveling companions and I didn't see eye to eye, we had a fight, and I left. The end." Obviously he didn't like talking about it.

Cynthia flinched slightly and apologized.

Ashura looked back at the gym leaders and elites, "there's something I need to tell you guys," he paused before taking breath, "I'm leaving, tonight. After the battle, I need to head to Orre." They were in shock at the sudden declaration, but nodded anyways. The champions looked confused.

"Wait, you're not staying for the tournament?" Steven asked.

Ashura shook his head, "no, I have business to take care of. I have questions that need answering in Orre."

Before they could protest further, James' voice came over the intercom system, asking Ashura and Lance to report to the field. Saying goodbye, the two headed out while everyone else went to the private box.

* * *

"This will be a three on three battle between Ashura, the Saliera champion, and Lance, the Kanto/Johto champion. There are no substitutions, when one Pokémon faints, both are recalled and two new ones are sent out." He looked back and forth between the two champions, "trainers, summon your Pokémon, and prepare for battle."

Lance took the initiative and chose first. "Aerodactyl, fight for me," he yelled, tossing the red and white sphere. The fossil Pokémon appeared in a flash with a roar, hovering above the space in front of Lance.

Ashura silently tossed his ball, and his Serperior appeared in her own flash. She slithered in a circle, showing off her speed before giving off a cry, staring down the aerodactyl.

James raised his hands above his head, and then lowered them, "begin."

"End it quickly aerodactyl, ice fang."

Aerodactyl flew towards serperior, ready to clamp down on serperior with a frozen bite. However, she dodged at the last second, showing off her impressive speed. Serperior responded by sending a leaf tornado at aerodactyl, who tried to fly off, but was clipped on the right wing.

"Aerodactyl," Lance called out, "keep your distance and try flamethrower." Aerodactyl nodded and flew up higher, before shooting a stream of flames from its maw. The flames approached serperior, but she evaded like it was nothing. The fossil Pokémon tried again, but she dodged once more.

"Aerodactyl, get in a bit closer and try flamethrower again," Lance commanded. Aerodactyl descended slightly and got closer before launching another flamethrower. This time, serperior evaded and kept going, slithering around the field with great speed. Getting annoyed with her, aerodactyl took off after her.

Looking back to make sure it was following her, she slightly slowed down, as if giving it a chance to catch up to her. After a minute of chase, aerodactyl was just a few feet away. As the beast was about to launch another flamethrower, serperior turned on a dime, coming to a halt as she started glowing green. A split second later, massive tree roots burst up from under the sand beneath aerodactyl, wrapping around it and dragging it to the ground.

When the roots returned to the earth, aerodactyl was shaking its head and slowly getting up, having been heavily damaged. She quickly summoned some leaves that started to float around her, before being launched at the aerodactyl. Each leaf hit the target, effectively knocking the target out.

The crowd cheered as serperior slithered to her master's side, while Lance recalled his fallen warrior. This time, Ashura sent out the first Pokémon, being his gliscor. Lance's next Pokémon brought a round of gasps from the crowd when they saw it.

A shiny Gyarados, the one from the Lake of Rage in Johto.

"Begin."

"Gyarados, aqua tail," the atrocious Pokémon brought its tail up and smashed it down on gliscor, water splashing. However, gliscor managed to evade and was now hovering over Gyarados.

"Gliscor, thunder fang," Ashura spoke for the first time this battle. Gliscor dove down towards Gyarados, fangs crackling with electricity.

"Ice fang," Lance yelled out the command as Gliscor was just a few feet away. Gyarados caught gliscor in his mouth with a frozen bite, swinging him around wildly before throwing him to the ground. When the dust cleared, Gliscor was knocked out cold.

Ashura returned gliscor, whispering words of thanks while Lance did the same. The two champions readied their next pokeballs, Lance tossing his first. His signature Dragonite appeared on his side of the field, while a Lapras appeared on Ashura's side.

Lance was confused. Why would he send out a Lapras in this environment, the sand would be difficult for it to travel on.

"Begin."

"Lapras, use ice beam," Ashura called out.

"Dodge using fly," Lance didn't want the super effective move to hit. Dragonite flew up, but the ice beam didn't change course, in fact, it didn't even head for where Dragonite used to be. The ice beam instead hit the ground and started covering it. Lance realized what they were trying to do; they wanted to freeze the ground.

Within a matter of thirty seconds, the entire field had been covered by her ice beam. Like a prinplup, she began sliding around on the ice on her stomach.

"Ice beam again," lapras reared her head back, and launched another ice beam. This time at the Dragonite.

"Counter with flamethrower," Dragonite shot a stream of flames back at her.

Fire met ice as the two beams fought for dominance, which was surprising because fire had a natural advantage over ice. Eventually, the two cancelled their attacks and glared at each other.

"Dragon rush."

"Hydro pump"

Dragonite took off, charging at lapras cloaked in a blue aura, while lapras shot a jet of water at Dragonite. The hydro pump only succeeded in slightly slowing Dragonite down as she was hit with a great force. The impact mad her slide all the way back over to Ashura, while Dragonite went and hovered back in front of Lance.

"Alright, let's end this now lapras, use mind reader," Ashura ordered. Lapras nodded and closed her eyes.

"What is he up to…?" Lance mumbled under his breath, "Dragonite, stay sharp."

After a few seconds of concentration, lapras nodded to her trainer. Ashura smirked, "all right, use sheer cold."

Lance's eyes widened as he watched lapras glow blue, before releasing a wave of blue energy that hit Dragonite, freezing it and knocking him out.

"Dragonite is unable to battle, therefore, Ashura wins the match," James announced. The crowd cheered wildly as the two champions shook hands, congratulating each other on the battle before departing from the stadium.

"Trainers participating, remember that the first battles tomorrow start at eleven o'clock sharp, so check the schedule and be well rested. Thank you and good night." James said to the remaining crowd before bowing slightly and leaving the field himself.

**Well, the tournament officially starts next chapter. i don't have an exact date on when that chapter will arrive, due to school, drafting other stories and other things, but hopefully not as long a wait as this one. Lets see, what else do I have to talk about...Oh yes, Lance finally revealed Ashura's true identity. but you folks already knew that..I hope. Ashura is heading to Orre, I wonder what could possibly be going on there...**


	5. Day One-Vs The Ice Queen

**Disclaimer: still don't own pokemon. **

Chapter 5: Day One-Vs. The Ice Queen

* * *

Day one of the competition had finally begun. The participants got up early to go read the schedules, finding out when they battle first. Those who didn't battle right away went for a little bit of last minute training, the others heading to the stadiums.

One of the battles that seemed to gain the most attention was currently about to start in stadium five. It was between elite four member Arianna, and gym leader Misty. After seeing her defeat months ago, the crowd was ready to see if she would be beaten again.

"Ready to lose again?" Misty sneered. Arianna, however, remained expressionless as Misty tried to taunt her. Arianna's calm face seemed to be getting to Misty as she was getting red with anger from being ignored. Luckily, the ref spoke up before the redhead blew up.

"This will be a three-on-three battle between Misty Waterflower of Cerulean City, and Arianna Griffith of Iglace. There will be no substitutions and will follow traditional Saliera battle style. (A/N: two Pokémon sent out, both recalled, two new ones sent out) Misty will choose first."

Said redhead pulled out her pokeball, tossing onto the field, "starmie, take her down." The purple starfish appeared, standing on two points, its red core glowing.

Arianna took out her own ball, whispering a few words to it before tossing it. When the light died down, a relatively large walrein was in front of Arianna.

"Begin."

"Starmie, start off with power gem," the red core on its body started glowing brighter, before launching a pink beam at walrein. What the pair failed to see was walrein use defense curl before.

Walrein, in return, launched a ball of ice from his mouth, which collided head on with power gem. The collision made a small explosion. Another ice ball, slightly larger this time came flying towards starmie through the smoke.

"Starmie, use psychic to knock it out of the way," Misty shouted. The ice ball glowed blue and was thrown to the ground a few feet from starmie, yet another one was already shooting towards starmie. Mustering up its strength again, Starmie knocked the ice ball out of the air again. The fourth one took a lot more out of it since it was larger and just a few feet away from starmie. Finally, an ice ball almost as big as walrein itself crashed into starmie, who was too tired to do anything.

The ice boulder crushed starmie, leaving a quarter of it visible, yet it was clear to see it was knocked out. Arianna recalled walrein, a smile slightly tugging at the corner of her lips as she heard Misty grumble unhappily to herself.

Drawing a new pokeball, Arianna released her floating head known as glalie. Misty's choice was her psyduck, which, surprisingly still hadn't evolved. Actually, Misty hadn't chosen psyduck; he popped out of his ball, probably at the wrong time too, judging by Misty's seething face. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on whose side you're on, Misty couldn't switch out, or she would lose that round.

"Begin."

At the drop of the referee's hands, glalie instantly began to glow blue. Above the stadium, the clouds started to grow darker. Within seconds, it had started hailing. Oddly enough, glalie managed to make it hail only within the playing field.

"Psyduck, use brick break," Misty called out. Psyduck stood still for a few seconds, before turning back to his trainer, head tilted and letting out a confused cry. Misty face palmed at her Pokémon as he was hit by a blizzard from glalie. Being a water type, it wouldn't have done too much damage, but since psyduck wasn't a strong Pokémon it did quite a lot.

"Psyduck, please do something, anything," Misty pleaded to her Pokémon. She couldn't afford to lose this battle. Again, psyduck stood still for a few seconds before sitting down on the ground, still holding his head.

Misty sighed in frustration, knowing this round was over as psyduck was hit by an ice beam.

Arianna's smile grew a little bit more as she claimed this round as well. How she was a gym leader was beyond her.

"Enough," Misty yelled, hurling her pokeball onto the field, "gyarados, end this, now!" Her atrocious sea serpent gave of a frightening roar as he emerged from the ball, while on Arianna's side, a lapras gave off a beautiful cry. The very same lapras she started her journey with years ago.

"Begin."

"Ha," Misty laughed, "you think you can beat my gyarados with that pitiful creat-…" a massive lightning bolt shot from lapras, engulfing gyarados completely and knocking it out, "…-ure," Misty finished slowly.

"Gyarados is unable to battle," the referee announced, "since Misty has lost all three Pokémon, Arianna will advance into the next round."

"What!" Misty screeched. "How could I have lost? Even Max beat you, and yet I lose to you?"

"Have you ever thought that perhaps Max never truly won his battles," Arianna called out over the crowd. With that, she turned and walked off the field to find her friends, leaving a dumbfounded Misty behind her.

* * *

"Trainers, please send out your final pokémon," the referee from stadium five asked.

"Don't let me down raticate," a young boy of about 14 called. The rat Pokémon appeared, chattering its teeth.

"Lucario," the older girl called out, tossing her pokeball. She had black hair which was split into two pigtails, with her bangs covering her right eye. She donned a black aviator jacket, dark grey jeans, black combat boots as well as fingerless gloves. The blue and black jackal Pokémon appeared, giving off a low growl.

"Begin."

"Alright raticate, use hyper fang," raticate's fangs glow silver as he charged at Lucario, clamping down on its leg.

"Get rid of it with close combat," Lucario started slamming its fists repeatedly onto raticate's head, until it finally let go. But Lucario didn't stop attacking there; numerous kicks and punches came at raticate over and over again, not stopping until raticate had finally given in.

"Raticate is unable to battle, with no more Pokémon remaining, Joey Koratta loses. Meaning Alyssa Fair will move on to the second round, "the referee declared. The two trainers walked towards each other and congratulated their opponent on the battle, before leaving so the next battle could start.

* * *

"Scizor is unable to battle, therefore, Horatu Alaina will advance on to the next round," the referee declared as the battle in stadium two came to a close. The two trainers approached one another as Horatu's flareon jumped up onto her shoulder.

"Good game Victoria," Horatu stuck out her hand. Victoria shook it with a glum look on her face.

"Yeah, but you were way stronger than me," she said sadly.

Horatu shook her head, "no, that's because I have a few more years of experience than you. You are a strong trainer, believe me, but you should try and widen your selection on Pokémon types instead of focusing on just one. That way, you'll have more coverage on different types," she explained, trying to cheer the younger girl up.

Victoria looked up and smiled, "yeah, I'll do that. If we meet again, will you have another battle with me?"

Horatu smiled back, "you can count on it." The pair walked off the field together, as the second pair of trainers walked on for their battle.

* * *

"Luna," Soleil called out, grabbing the attention of her twin sister who was currently resting in one of the pokécenters. Luna looked up and smiled when she saw her sister and most of the other gym leaders, as well as Natalie. She got up and embraced her sister, who did the same.

"So, did you find out when you battle?" Luna asked.

Soleil nodded, "yeah, not until after lunch, same with most of the others."

The group all gathered at one of the tables and began to discuss what they had seen so far.

"So…did you all see Arianna's match?" Molly asked. Everyone nodded their heads at that.

"It was a truly pathetic battle, she stood no chance whatsoever," Serenity commented.

"And then she had the nerve to insult her Pokémon," Elijah added with disgust. The gym leaders shook their heads.

"So, Ace…" Natalie began, trying to change the conversation, "who are you going up against?"

"Some trainer by the name of Mark, but that's not for another few hours."

"How about Bruce's matchup?" Soleil asked while grinning.

"What luck, huh," Sylvia said.

* * *

Arianna walked through the pokécenter doors and over to the front desk. Handing her pokeballs to the nurse, she went to sit down on one of the couches by the fireplace. The center was mostly empty due to most people out watching the battles, or battling, so it was nice and quiet in the center, besides the nurses soft humming. Arianna closed her eyes and enjoyed the silence. After a few minutes, she heard the door to the center open and a small group of people shuffled in.

Max, Misty and Dawn walked over to her, coming to a stop right in front of her. Arianna payed no attention to them and kept her eyes closed.

"What did you mean 'I didn't win my battles'," Max asked her. When she didn't respond, he asked her the question again, albeit much louder this time.

Arianna opened her eyes and glared at the boy in front of her, and he shrank back at the look on her face, "ignorant boy, she means you didn't face our true power, we were under orders," a new voice rang out as Bruce walked up behind them.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Dawn demanded.

Bruce smirked at her, "do you really think Max won against us because of his 'skills'," he asked while making quotation marks with his fingers at the word skills.

"Of course I did, I'm way better than you," Max yelled arrogantly.

Bruce laughed at the boy's behaviour and Arianna broke into a smirk, not even she could stay emotionless at that.

"Well then Max, I sure hope you can prove that in our rematch today," he said as he turned his back and walked out with Arianna, who had just gathered her Pokémon.

* * *

**Authors Note: Thank you to the viewers who sent in their OC's. So, I'm thinking of making day one like a five chapter series, what would you guys think of that. Yes, or no and just make it one huge chapter. I did take the title of this chapter from one of my favorite songs Ice Queen by Within Temptation, and that's probably going to happen a lot. Anyway, more battles in the next few chapters. **


	6. Vs The Man with the Dragonair Tattoo

**Authors note: Sorry it took so long, school was being a pain. But anyway, I was somewhat surprised at how many people couldn't wait to see Max get his ass kicked. Anyway, disclaimer, still don't own pokemon. **

Chapter 6: Day One-Vs. The Man with the Dragonair Tattoo

* * *

The seventeen year old sighed dejectedly as she walked into the Pokémon center, her flareon still perched on her shoulder from her battle less than an hour ago. She walked over to the counter and handed her Pokémon to Nurse Joy for healing.

"Can't believe they mispronounced my name," Hotaru mumbled to herself. However, it was a little louder than she expected and the nurse picked up on it.

"Don't worry dear, I'm sure the referee was just tired," she smiled at the younger girl.

Hotaru nodded and walked over to one of the couches to rest. Noticing one of the TV's was showing coverage of the tournament, she decided to watch that to pass some of the time. The winner of the first battle in stadium three was Sabrina, the psychic gym leader from Kanto. Her opponent was Chuck from Cianwood city.

The television switched channels to show one of the current battles between Norman of Petalburg, and a young man by the name of Aaron Hall. The battle was pretty one sided as Aaron was just dominating Norman. His Dragonite had Norman's slaking outmatched in speed and power, and was literally flying circles around it. One outrage later and Norman had lost the match.

The next channel was showing highlights of another battle between Drake Westbrook and Mauville gym leader Wattson. The gym leader was no match for his garchomp.

Nurse Joy's voice brought her out of her trance. Looking up, she noticed the nurse motioning to a tray of pokéballs on the counter. Hotaru got up and walked over to the counter and retrieved her Pokémon, releasing flareon so she could be on her shoulder again. It was a miracle that her hoodie didn't catch fire.

* * *

Two figures stood on opposite sides of field five. One had short, spiky brown hair and green eyes. He was dressed in a button up shirt and jeans, with a leather jacket, and plain sneakers. A pair of glasses sat on his face.

The other was dressed in a safari outfit. He had purple hair as well as purple eyes. In his right hand was a bug catching net.

"This will be a three-on-three battle between Bugsy Tsukushi of Azalea Town, and Roy Anderson of Blackthorn City. There will be no substitutions and will follow traditional Saliera battle style. Bugsy will choose first," the referee announced as she raised her flags.

"Butterfree, help me out," he shouted, tossing his pokeball into the air. The butterfly Pokémon appeared, crying out her name.

"Aggron, take it out," Roy called as his giant iron armor Pokémon materialized on the field with a roar.

* * *

"Ninetails, finish scizor off with a flamethrower," Roy exclaimed.

The fox reared her head back a shot a stream of flames at scizor, who couldn't move because it was immobilized. Earlier in the match, Roy's aggron managed to take down Butterfree with a stone edge after taking minimal damage. Roy's next Pokémon was his gardevoir, while Bugsy sent out beedrill. A few well-placed psychics took care of it, but she was poisoned due to toxic. And now, it was clear that Roy had won this match.

"Scizor is unable to battle, since Bugsy is out of Pokémon, Mr. Anderson will be advancing to the next round," the referee proclaimed, raising her flag in Roy's direction. The two challengers shook hands and walked off the field to heal their Pokémon.

* * *

"Did you hear, apparently Phoebe beat Glacia just a few minutes ago," one boy said to his friend rather loudly as they walked through the cafeteria, where a few other people were seated.

"Damn it all," his buddy cursed angrily. His friend looked at him confused.

"What?"

"I owe Sara twenty pokédollars," he sighed.

While the rest of the group looked at the boys as they left the cafeteria, Max just stared at his lunch, as if it was going to do the most interesting thing in the world. May noticed this and confronted her brother.

"Hey Max, what's wrong?" she poked him in the shoulder twice.

Max jumped slightly and looked at his sister, before sighing and looking back down at his food again. "I've just been thinking about what they said," he replied. May frowned at him.

"Don't you worry about that Max; they're just trying to get you down before the battle."

Max shook his head, "but what do you think they meant. She said that I hadn't truly won my matches, and he said that I didn't win by skill."

Misty shook her head angrily, "Max, listen to me. That bitch doesn't know what she's talking about, and that other fool was just trying to throw you off. You have nothing to be worried about." It was easy to tell that Misty did not like Arianna at all. Misty returned to angrily chomping away at her fried chicken. She was still pissed that she was swept in her battle against the elite member.

"But what if…what if they're right. What if I'm not good enough?" he asked them with a shaky voice.

"If you're not good enough Max, then how did you get into this tournament? And besides, why would the elites supposedly let you win against them?" Brock inquired.

Max nodded his head, still pondering their words deeply.

* * *

Come three o'clock, more than sixty battles had taken place in the four arenas combined. Over thirty competitors had secured their place in the second round. One of the more popular battles was about to start on field five.

The rematch between Bruce and the previous league winner, Max. After Misty was destroyed by Arianna earlier in the day, the crowd was ready to see if Max was going to fall as well. A lot of people were betting on the match, most in the favor of Bruce.

A chorus of cheers broke out as the two competitors stepped onto the field. Instead of wearing his usual dark blue jacket, Bruce had on a black sleeveless shirt with strange yellow ring symbols on it. Since his jacket was absent, Max and the spectators could see a tattoo of a Dragonair curled around the entirety of his left arm. Being as muscular as he was, one could mistake him for being in a gang.

"This will be a three-on-three battle between Bruce Ramirez of Ryuu Village, and Max Maple of Petalburg City. There will be no substitutions and will follow traditional Saliera battle style. Bruce will select his Pokémon," the referee announced.

Bruce smirked and took a pokeball off of his belt and launched it high into the air, yelling "let's do it, haxorus!"

The axe jaw Pokémon gave of a low roar, swinging her blades around. Looking at her opponent, she gave off another roar. This time, it seemed to be…happy. After the thrown match before, she couldn't wait to get back at the boy.

Max gulped as the Pokémon roared before reaching down to summon his own Pokémon. If his friends were right, and Bruce was just bluffing earlier, then he should be able to take haxorus down with the same Pokémon as before.

"Gallade, let's win this," his Pokémon emerged from his ball, swinging his blades around energetically. He stopped when he noticed who he would be facing. Being from the same family line as gardevoir, he could slightly feel the emotions and feelings of other beings. And the emotions radiating from the opponents were much different than the last time they fought. Back then, the two felt as though they were holding back, reluctant to fight. But now, now they were filled with much more energy, and a strong determination to fight.

The referee lowered her arms, "begin!"

Max was snapped back into reality at the sound of the ref's voice. He looked over and noticed his enemies calmly looking back at him, allowing him to make the first move. "Gallade," he called out, "use psycho cut."

Gallade nodded as his arms glowed blue, before swinging them in the direction of haxorus. Upon the impact, they simply vaporized as if they were never there. Haxorus smirked as the weak psychic attack bounced off of her.

"Haxorus, give them a dual chop," Bruce ordered.

She took off with great speed, her arms glowing and aimed right at gallade. In a flash, gallade brought his arms up to act as a shield. Haxorus' fists slammed into him with a tremendous force, pushing them back a few feet. Even through the block, the attack still did quite a bit of damage to gallade. The two remained in a deadlock before breaking off and returning to glaring.

Max's eyes widened at the power they were showing. It was nothing like before, maybe they really were holding back.

"Dragon claw."

Haxorus swiped her claw at the opponent, which was met with gallade's left arm. Gallade brought his right arm up just in time to stop her other claw. Again they were in a standstill, haxorus bringing her head down to gallade's level to meet his gaze.

Bruce smirked, this round was his. "Haxorus, use dragon tail."

Giving off a low growl, haxorus quickly did a three-sixty, knocking her thick tail into the side of gallade's head, who was, in turn, sent flying into the wall. The dust cleared to show gallade, panting heavily on one knee, struggling to get up.

"Outrage."

A red hue cloaked haxorus as she rushed forward, landing a multitude of punches and kicks upon gallade, only stopping to check to see if her foe was still able to fight. Which he clearly wasn't, because he fell face first as soon as she stopped the onslaught.

"Gallade is unable to battle, trainers, please send out your new Pokémon," the referee said.

In two red flashes, gallade and haxorus were returned to their capsules. Deciding he would choose first again, Bruce released his next Pokémon. The three headed, black and blue dragon remained strangely silent as she materialized onto the field. For a brutal Pokémon, she was rather quiet, even her other two heads were silent.

"Blaziken, help me out," Max asked of his Pokémon. Combusken had evolved during the training over the break.

"Begin."

"Blaziken, use bulk up." Blaziken flexed his muscles, temporarily increasing his power. "Good, now hit them with sky uppercut." Blaziken took off at the hydreigon, fist glowing blue as he aimed at the center head.

Hydreigon had other plans though. She flew up just as she was about to be hit. Blaziken glared at her, deeming her a coward for staying in the air.

"Hydreigon, end him with earthquake." As quick as she went up, the brutal Pokémon went crashing down onto the field, sending a shockwave at blaziken who had no time to react to it. Despite its powerful leg muscles, blaziken was knocked off his feet.

Without receiving an order from her trainer, hydreigon let out a blood curdling howl. An orange orb began to form in her main mouth, before shooting it up into the air, all while blaziken watched from his position on his back on the ground.

The orb launched from her mouth and shot up into the sky, breaking apart into multiple smaller pieces, which rained down onto the field. Upon realising that a draco meteor was raining down on him, blaziken scrambled to get out of the way. Yet it was a fruitless attempt, since there were just too many to evade. He went down faster than this author can get a chapter up.

"Blaziken is unable to battle, trainer, please send out your final Pokémon."

Max grit his teeth. Bruce was right. He didn't win his matches at all. "Salamence, please prove me wrong." His dragon roared to announce his presence. Meanwhile, Bruce released his Pokémon of the same species. Bruce's though, was larger and had a scar on her left wing.

"Max, I'd like you to meet my starter…and your end in this tournament," Bruce called out across the field.

Max gulped. Bruce hadn't used a Salamence before, so he had no idea on its strength.

"Begin."

"You may have the first move, Max. Pick wisely." Bruce said with a small smirk playing at his lips as he bowed mockingly.

"Dragon Rush." Max's salamence charged towards Bruce's, surrounded by a blue aura.

"Get out of there," the female rocketed off into the sky, Max's salamence nearly crashing head first into the ground where she used to be.

"Salamence, take after her," Max commanded. His dragon took after the elite's, entering into an aerial battle.

Bruce ordered a dragon pulse, and his salamence complied, hitting Max's in the face.

"Salamence," Max yelled, "use hyper beam."

The smaller dragon released an orange beam of energy at the larger one, hoping to deal damage for the first time this battle.

"Do a barrel roll," Bruce yelled to his starter. She complied and rolled out of the way mid-air, leaving the attack to shoot off into the sky, disappearing into nothingness.

"Now, while they're recharging, dragon rush them to the ground." Coming in from above, the dragon slammed onto her foes wings, driving him all the way into the ground. The impact sent dust flying up, blocking the view. But it was quickly dispatched by beat of Bruce's Salamence's wings.

Max's fighter was badly bruised, but still conscious and trying to take off.

Bruce snapped his fingers, drawing Max's attention. "I've won," he announced. Salamence launched an attack that looked a lot like fire blast, but it was a dark blue in color and much thicker. The attack knocked salamence out completely, ending the rematch.

"Max's salamence is unable to battle, therefore, Bruce wins and will advance to the next round," the referee declared.

Max recalled his Pokémon and fell to his knees, looking at the pokeball in his hand. "Why?" he asked himself, "why would they just let me win my battles? What did I ever do to them?"

"Because," Bruce's voice snapped him out of his trance as he looked up to see him towering over him, a frown on his face. "The weak can't win their own battles, they will always have to have help, even if they don't know it's happening. It's better to keep them in the dark and let them think they're strong."

"I-Impossible," Max stuttered as he gaped at Bruce's retreating form, his words clearly refreshing the boys memory.

* * *

**Heh, Max lost. But most of you probably saw that coming. I wonder what Bruce could have meant at the end there...oh wait, I already know... **

**Next Chapter, Day One comes to a close, but not round one. **


	7. Vs Ghostqueen

**Authors note: The views...they're over 9000!...Yeah sorry 'bout that, I wanted to say that so badly. Day one comes to a close. Man, there are so many references in this chapter that I should have called it references...but I didn't...because that would be a dumb chapter name... Disclaimer, still nothing with the whole owning pokemon situation, but I'm getting close.**

* * *

Chapter 7: Day One-Vs. Ghostqueen

* * *

The desert sun had long since begun its descent from the apex in its journey across the sky. Day one of the tournament was just about to finish. Due to a delay in one of the later matches, the final match had to be rescheduled, truly making it the final match of the day.

Now all the participants and viewers could focus on the one battle instead of multiple battles. However, the smaller arenas weren't built to hold as much people as the main stadium. So the fans who couldn't grab a seat in time were either watching on one of the large screens outside the arena, or from the comfort of their hotel room.

However, being members of the league had its benefits, as you had a private box to watch the match from. From his perch atop one of the hotels, the grey feline could see his master's friends gathered inside the private box, even if they were over a kilometer away. Thanks to his partners illusions, it seemed like the roof was empty, and no one would be able to see them.

"**Hey**," the feminine call made him turn his head to look at his comrade. Being under the illusion shield, he could still see the grey fox-like Pokémon.

"**Yeah?**" he responded, taking his eyes off the stadium.

"**You ever wonder why we're here?**" the zoroark asked, looking at the setting sun, already half below the horizon.

"**It's one of life's great mysteries, isn't it…**?" Mewtwo began slowly, looking up at a small, fluffy cloud slowly drifting by. "**Why are we here? I mean, are we the product of some type of cosmic coincidence, or are we really all children of lady Arceus herself.**" He looked down at his hand and curled his fist, a purple misty of psychic energy radiating off of it as he clenched his eyes shut. "**I know I'm nothing more than a science experiment for humanity, created for the selfish and the greedy. I am not a creature of Arceus, but a clone of one of the first born. I don't know, but it keeps me up at night.**" Mewtwo sighed, the psychic energy dissipating.

"**…**"

Thesilence lasted a few seconds and Mewtwo opened his eyes to see zoroark staring at him perplexedly, her head tilted slightly.

"**What? No, I meant what are we doing ****_here,_**" she pointed down to the floor they were standing (and hovering) on,"** on top of this bloody hotel in the blazing sun, when we should be with Ash?**"

"**Oh…, we're here to see how the others do for Ash while he is away, and keep an eye out for Shadow.**" Mewtwo responded hastily.

"**…What was all that philosophical bullshit about?**" She questioned, looking him in the eyes.

"**Uh…hm, nothing,**" he responded.

"**...You wanna talk about it?**"

"**No.**"

* * *

"Ladies and gentleman, welcome to the final match for day one," the referee announced as she took her place on the sideline. "This will be a three-on-three battle between Natalie Hall of Kakariko village and Will Itsuki of Len Town will now commence. There will be no substitutions and will follow traditional Saliera battle style. Will shall choose first."

"Espeon, you're up," the masked man shouted, tossing the ball high in the air. The pink sun Pokémon appeared, flicking his tail back and forth.

Natalie giggled slightly before launching her pokeball high in the air. "Phanteon, you're up."

The crowd gasped at the sight of the Pokémon. None of them had seen one before, so they concluded it must be very rare.

Phanteon itself was roughly the same size as most other eeveelutions. Like espeon, she had no pupils in her dark crimson eyes. Her body was rather misty, somewhat like a cloud, and grey in color. She had a rather large tail, which pieces of seemed to blow off of in the breeze, but the size of the tail never changed. She had a white, fluffy collar like a certain dark legendary, and two grey floppy ears.

Espeon stared hard at the phantom Pokémon. He could tell that it was a member of the eevee family line, but not how it achieved its form.

"Begin."

"Phanteon, start it off with a volley of shadow balls," Natalie called out. The ghost type attack morphed itself out of phanteon's chest and launched at espeon, repeating again and again.

"Espeon, light screen," Will calmly responded. Espeon conjured up a box of psychic energy around himself, as the first shadow ball made impact with the shield, it disappeared into nothingness. Yet Will could see a small crack left behind. As the second and third attacks landed, the crack got bigger and bigger until it covered most of the screen.

"Keep it up," Natalie encouraged. Phanteon kept shooting from her chest, hoping to break the light screen soon.

"Get ready, espeon," Will warned. Espeon nodded and prepared himself for when the shield would fall. Upon the fifth hit, the wall shattered, allowing a wave of shadow ball's to hit espeon.

"Now!" Will shouted. Espeon's skin was surrounded in a glowing reflective substance. Mirror coat, Natalie thought. The remaining shadow ball's hit espeon and bounced back, heading straight for phanteon. But to Will, and most of the crowd's confusion, Natalie gave no order to dodge, nor did phanteon make an attempt.

Upon impact, phanteon didn't flinch or recoil from being hit by the multiple shadow balls, even if it was a super effective move. Instead, they were absorbed right back to where they were launched from. After being absorbed, phanteon's tail and collar seemed to flare up, and her eyes grew a brighter red.

"What?" Will yelled in disbelief, "how come that didn't do any damage?"

Natalie giggled again, "Simple, it's because of her ability, Soul Sucker. Any ghost type move she is hit by slightly restores her health and boosts her attack, and since she was hit by all those shadow balls, she's ready to kick some ass! Now, use night shade."

Phanteon fired a black beam from her forehead that connected with the jewel on Espeon's, making him cry out in pain. Shaking off the attack, espeon stumbled forward slightly, feeling light headed from the massive attack.

"Alright, end it with shadow claw," still silent, phanteon dashed forward and leapt into the air. Her two front paws were cloaked in a shadowy aura as they grew in size, bringing them down upon espeon's head. Espeon cried out in pain as he was knocked to the ground, but he didn't get up.

"Espeon is unable to battle, Phanteon wins. Trainers, please select your new Pokémon."

"Well done phanteon, take a nice rest," Natalie complimented as she returned the phantom Pokémon. She chose a new ball, "Now then, let's win this, chandelure."

The chandelier-like Pokémon materialized, letting of an eerie cry as he did.

"Take it down, slowking," Will shouted.

"Begin."

* * *

It had been quiet for minutes now. She spent most of the past little while thinking things over, while her partner kept looking in the direction of the stadium. She wondered how he could see from all the way back here, but she figured it was due to his psychic powers.

She jumped slightly as she heard a low rumbling noise, but settled down and blushed slightly when she realized it was just her stomach.

"**Mewtwo,**" zoroark called out. Mewtwo took his gaze off of the battle to look at his partner. "**I'm hungry,**" she complained.

Mewtwo sighed, "**and what do you want me to do about it?**"

"**What about supper?**" she asked.

"**We've already had it,**" he stated simply.

"**We have one, yes. What about second supper?**"

Mewtwo sighed and shook his head, scanning the surrounding area. Once satisfied, his eyes flashed blue and a large, red apple appeared in front of him. Looking back, he smirked when he noticed that zoroark wasn't paying attention to him. Instead, looking down and rubbing her stomach.

Using his powers, he flung the apple at her head, mentally laughing as it bounced off and look of pure shock appeared on her face as she frantically started looking around. Smiling at him, she picked up the apple and started eating.

* * *

"Slowking is unable to battle, trainers, please send out your final Pokémon."

"Xatu, do your best," Will cried.

"You too, my old friend," Natalie said as she called out her Pokémon. A grinning gengar took her place in front of Natalie.

"Begin."

"Xatu, start off with future sight," Will called out. The mystic Pokémon's eyes flashed blue as he remained still, staring off into space.

"Dark pulse/ shadow ball," the elites called out their attacks at the same time, but their respective Pokémon heard them and launched. Gengar raised her hands and launched a multitude of dark pulses, while xatu did the same with shadow balls. Each shadow ball and dark pulse collided with each other, causing an explosion and a cloud of dust that could be seen from far away.

* * *

Zoroark's head snapped up at the explosion as she walked up to Mewtwo, putting her hand over her head and squinting her eyes to try and get a better look at the stadium.

"**What's happening down there?**" she asked, looking at Mewtwo and back at the stadium.

"**Shall I describe it to you…**" Mewtwo began, as he looked at zoroark, who in turn looked back at him. "**…or would you like me to find you a telescope?**" he smirked.

Zoroark stared at him for a second, before chuckling at him.

* * *

When the dust cleared, both Pokémon were revealed to be uninjured. However, gengar grabbed her head in pain as the future sight took effect. Being part poison, it was super effective against her. But that wouldn't keep her down.

"Wait for it gengar," Natalie instructed. Gengar nodded to show she understood what she meant.

"Now, use psychic," Xatu's eyes glowed blue as he prepared to deliver the mind crushing attack.

"Now!" Natalie shouted. Gengar dashed forward and struck xatu straight on the head with a sucker punch. Xatu lost his focus and couldn't deliver the psychic attack.

"Now, while they're recovering use dark pulse," she cried. Gengar delivered a point blank right into xatu's face, who could do nothing but take the beat down he was receiving.

When the attack let up, xatu had swirls in his eyes and was out cold.

"Xatu is unable to battle, gengar wins. Therefore, Natalie Hall will be advancing to the next round," the referee declared.

Natalie walked up to Will, who did the same to her. He stuck out his hand and she shook it.

"You did a good job out there Will," she said with a smile.

The masked man smiled back, "yeah, but not good enough. I wish you the best of luck in the tournament."

* * *

"**She won,**" Mewtwo simply stated.

Zoroark smiled and looked out to the stadium, but then frowned as something dawned on her.

"**Now what?**"

"**Now we head back to Ash's Fortress of Solitude and report in,**" Mewtwo answered.

Zoroark scowled, "**why do you always call it that?**"

* * *

The cloaked figure descended the large pidgeot and thanked her for the journey. Looking up at the building, he smiled slightly and walked through the automatic doors. The receptionist was absent, but due to the hour, it seemed reasonable. He walked down the hallway and entered the elevator, riding it up to the second level.

Walking past the break room, he noticed most of the researchers who hadn't gone home, or lived in the lab, were watching replays of the tournament in Saliera. Finding the door he was looking for, he came to a stop outside and pulled off his hood. He knocked three times, waiting for an answer.

"Come in," came the voice from the other side.

Stepping inside, he noticed the young professor sitting behind his desk, watching the small TV that sat upon it. The professor locked eyes with him, and they widened in shock as he identified the young man.

"Ash?"

Ash chuckled, "good to see you remember me, professor."

"Of course. So, what do I owe the pleasure of the Saliera champion visiting me," he paused to think, "come to think of it…why aren't you in Saliera, at the tournament?" he asked.

"Well, I've come for two reasons, but I'm sure you already know the first one. But that can wait for a bit. You see, I have a favor to ask of you, professor," he began, taking a seat.

"Of course, of course. By the way, can I get you anything to drink, eat?" Krane assured him, getting up to walk over to the fridge.

"…" Ash thought for a few seconds, before responding, "just water please."

The professor grabbed a bottle of water for Ash and an energy drink for himself. He tossed the bottle to Ash, who caught it skillfully. "So, tell me about this favor."

"You remember those trainers you told me about a few months ago," the champion began. Krane thought about it, and then it clicked in his head.

"Ah, yes, I remember now. What about them?"

Ash leaned forward in his seat, "I'd like to meet them."

* * *

In the darkness of the storage rooms in one of the Pokémon centers, a lone nurse who operated the center was talking to someone through her earpiece. An evil smirk played on her lips.

"Begin releasing the drug into the Pokémon you have there now," the voice ordered. His voice was husky as he spoke.

"Yes sir, consider it done," she answered back.

The voice on the other end of the connection cackled evilly, "excellent, continue to do so to any Pokémon you get the chance to," he ordered.

"If you don't mind me asking, sir, how long will it take for the drug to take effect?"

"It should take a week, depending on the will of the Pokémon. But the best part is that it will be completely unnoticeable until then. Now, get to work."

"Yes sir," the nurse saluted, even though she was alone.

* * *

**Heh, I just loved writing those parts with Mewtwo and Zoroark. Two of my favorite pokémon. Well, now the bigger events are being set in motion and-...(sniff sniff), do you guys smell that...Smells like a traitor! Also, shout out to ****_beatshield, _****for being the 100th follower on this story. Congratulations good sir/madam, give yourself a pat on the back. 'Till next time, goodnight**

**Update A/N: Sorry about the vague description of phanteon. I will try and better describe her in the upcoming chapters, as well as how Natalie obtained her. I also may attempt drawing her, but if that happens, it will take a long time. **


	8. Day Two- The Unforgiven

**Authors Note: shout out to Fedigaxu for being the 100th favorite. I probably should have added this in earlier, but this is just a list of the OC's for the Saliera league. **

**Mason Wallace-Normal Type Elite Four-Salemburg City.**

**Bruce Ramirez-Dragon Type Elite Four-Ryuu Village**

**Natalie Hall-Ghost Type Elite Four-Kakariko Village**

**Arianna Griffith-Ice Type Elite Four-Iglace**

**Soleil Ciel-Psychic Gym Leader-Starrygate**

**Luna Ciel-Dark Gym Leader-Shadowbrook**

**Andrew Marks-Steel Gym Leader-Silver City**

**Pierre Burgess-Fire Gym Leader-Red Wind**

**Molly**** Burgess-Grass Gym Leader-Silverwood**

**Serenity ****Burgess-Water Gym Leader-Deep Lake**

**Elijah Zimmerman-Flying Gym Leader-Ordona**

**Sylvia Glashow-Electric Gym Leader-Valeris**

**Danny Gipson-Bug Gym Leader-Cimex Town**

**Cassia Rovida-Fighting Gym Leader-Macto Town**

**Antonio Pepin-Poison Gym Leader-Romani **

**Britney Bernarth-Rock Gym Leader-Violet Rock**

**Lucilla Hetsler-Ground Gym Leader-Eriton**

**Disclaimer, still don't own pokemon.**

* * *

Chapter 8: The Unforgiven

* * *

_The small group of eight people and one rodent were gathered in the dense Viridian forest. Seven of the humans were gathered around the eighth in a semi-circle, frowns on their faces. The rodent was perched upon the eighth members shoulder, glaring at the others while his cheeks sparked violently. The drizzle that had started minutes ago picked up until it was a light downpour, thunder echoing off in the distance. _

"_Why? Why would you do this to me? After everything we've been through," the raven haired boy choked out, tears threatening to fall from his eyes. "Why would you all lie to me?"_

_The red headed girl sneered at him, "Because,_ _weak people like you can't win their own battles. They will always have to have help, even if they don't know it's happening. It's better to keep them in the dark and let them think they're strong." The yellow rodent growled dangerously at her. _

"_So…" the teen began, wiping his eyes, "so you thought it was ok to lie to me. To create a false friendship and string me along the entire way. Even after I saved your asses countless times, after saving the world , even after everything I did for each one of you?!" his voice rose until he was yelling. _

"_Please calm down A-"the brunette began, slowly moving towards him, but she was cut off by the boy's angry yells. _

"_Shut up! Don't even talk to me anymore you heartless bitch. From now on, stay the hell out of my life!" he screamed, before turning and storming off deeper into the forest._

* * *

It was twilight out and the young boy woke up hot. His body was soaked in a cold, cold sweat. Panting, he looked around to find himself back in his hotel room, far from the forest. Looking out the window, he noticed that the sun had just set, casting a faint glow on the land. Sighing, Max rested his head back on his pillow. He left for his hotel room right after his match, claiming that he was too tired to hang out.

"It can't be him," Max muttered. Closing his eyes again, he tried to go back to sleep, hoping that he wouldn't relive that day again.

* * *

-Bang Bang Bang-

Bruce groaned into his pillow. If he remembered correctly, he didn't order a wakeup call. The knocking continued. "Who is it!" he yelled angrily, raising his head off the pillow.

"It's Mason," came the calm voice of his best friend. Sighing to himself, Bruce rolled off the bed and landed on all fours. Getting to his feet, he shielded his eyes as the sun's rays attacked his eyes. Making a mental note to close the curtains next time, he walked over to the door and opened it. Mason stood alone in the hallway of the hotel, dressed in his casual wear.

"What's up?" Bruce asked while yawning, stepping aside to let Mason in.

"The gang's all heading out to breakfast, just came to get your lazy ass out of bed," he smirked as he walked in, closing the door behind him.

Bruce rubbed his eyes as he looked at the alarm clock on the bed side table, "it's only seven thirty-three. Why so early?" he asked, gathering up his clothes.

"Forgotten already," Mason chuckled, "my match is at eleven if you still care. Now hurry up and shower so we can go eat, the others are waiting there."

Bruce flipped him off before stepping into the bathroom, locking the door as he shut it behind him.

* * *

The two cloaked figures walked down the street of the tournament grounds, looking for the small restaurant. They had donned their cloaks again to make sure none of the other participants recognized them on the way to breakfast. The streets weren't really crowded at this time of day, but they weren't deserted either. Most were trainers who had secured their position in the second, heading out to get some training done.

"So, this guy's friends a doctor, right," Mason began, starting up a conversation, "one of those plastic surgeon types, you know. Anyway there's this one patient who's fucking crazy. And he asks the doctor to drill a hole into his head and put in a glass plate, so you can see his brains all floating there and shit. And the doctor does it." He laughed at the story he was telling. "Then the guy comes back and gets a plastic horn implanted in his head. Now he's a freak. Like, what the fuck was he thinking man, right?"

"Stop talking," Bruce sighed as he looked at Mason. Mason looked back at him confused. "We're here, and I don't think the girls would want to hear this story," he explained. The two removed their hoods and walked into the restaurant.

The establishment itself wasn't too large, but it wasn't exactly small either. It was a cozy little family restaurant. Looking around, Bruce noticed Natalie waving them over to a group of tables that were bunched together in the far corner. Currently seated in the group were Natalie and Arianna of the elites, the Saliera gym leaders, and another they recognized as one of the Unova gym leaders. The duo took the remaining two chairs available.

"Ah Bruce, Mason, good to see you," Elijah said as he got up, motioning to the girl seated beside him. "This is my cousin, Skyla; she's the flying gym leader in Unova." Skyla stood up and extended her right hand to the two.

"Bruce Ramirez." "Mason Wallace, nice to meet you." The two shook her hand. Sitting back down, the waitress came over to take the order for drinks for the newcomers, since all the others had their drinks.

"Some hot chocolate for me, please," Mason said. The waitress wrote it down and turned to Bruce.

"Coffee, black, please," the waitress wrote down his order too.

"I'll return with your drinks, and then I'll take your orders." The waitress left the table and disappeared into the kitchen, allowing the group to pick up their menus and decide on their meals. The group thought in silence, as Soleil and Luna were the first to decide, followed by Sylvia, Danny, Cassia and eventually everyone else, allowing the conversations to pick up.

"So, it's just me, Serenity and Sylvia that have battles today," Mason announced as he set his menu down. The two girls in question nodded at him. He smiled at them, "well, let's win today and get the full gang through."

The waitress returned with the drinks and placed them in front of the two men. Pulling out her pad and pen, "now then, are you all ready to order?" she asked, looking at Antonio.

"Yes, I'll have the French toast and some Fresh Fruit," he said, adding emphasis to fresh fruit and making a strange face. Writing his order down, she turned to the twins.

"We'll take the chocolate chip pancakes please," Luna spoke for the both of them. Writing down a double order of choco pancakes, the waitress went on through the entire group. Telling them the food would take a while due to the size of the group, she turned and once again disappeared into the kitchen again.

"So, any trainers catch your eyes yet?" Cassia, the fighting leader asked.

"Well," Molly, the water leader began, "there is this one trainer, Rebecca Silverstone was her name, I think. She swept Clair from Johto." A chorus of gasps arose from around the table.

"Yeah, I heard the same thing happened to that Drake guy, you know, the one from the Hoenn elite four. That Silverline fella took him out," Pierre, the fire leader, and Molly's brother, stated.

"The same one who took down both battle frontiers, and the Sinnoh league?" Andrew asked, astounded.

"The very same," Mason answered, "well damn, sure got a lot of strong trainers at this tournament. And it looks like all the dragon masters are heading out. It was nice having you," he laughed as he patted Bruce's shoulder jokingly. The others laughed along with him. The exception being Bruce, of course.

"Month's salary says I make it farther than you," Bruce declared with a smirk. Mason's eyes widened before resigning to that of determination.

"It's on like Slaking Kong," he said as he shook hands with Bruce, sealing the deal.

"Oh hey, what about that one guy, he had a blastoise with a red shell," Natalie brought up.

"Yeah, that Austin guy, reminds me of Ashura's lucario with the altered coloring," Andrew said, making sure to use Ash's pseudo name in front of Skyla.

"Hey, Natalie?" Skyla asked, getting the elites attention. "Do you mind if I get a closer look at your Phanteon, I've never seen one before in my life?"

"Sure thing, come on out." Natalie's pokeball opened up and the phantom Pokémon materialized on the floor behind her. Skyla got up out of her chair and walked over to the eeveelution, kneeling down to get a better look at it.

Upon closer inspection, Skyla noticed that she had a small, golden skull on her forehead. Her body was roughly the same size as your average espeon. Also like espeon, she had no pupils, and her sclera's were a dark crimson. Her grey body looked like it had mist emanating from it, yet when Skyla petted her; she found that it was in fact, solid, and felt silky. But upon touching the tail, her hand passed right through it, like it was truly made of mist. Every now and then, small pieces of her tail would blow off and dissipate into nothing, but the size of the tail never changed. Intrigued, Skyla ran her hand across the white collar of Phanteon, interested to see if it was like the tail. However, she found out it too was solid.

"A remarkable Pokémon," Skyla praised as she scratched the phantom behind one of her floppy ears, earning a soft mew from her.

* * *

The figured sighed as he moved around the table. Eyeing the objects scattered across it, he noticed a large difference between those owned by him, and those owned by the figure across the table. His opponent only had one left, while he had multiple. Looking down at the long object in his right appendage, he brought it up and laid it across his left, which was laid on the table. He sucked in a breath and held it, lined up his sights, and shot.

The stick gently knocked into the cue ball, sending it into the solid, red colored ball, which in turn fell into the middle pocket. He released the built up air in his lungs in a happy sigh.

"**Finally,**" he grunted, satisfied at finally sinking a ball. "**It's about time you let me have a go, I had a feeling it this game would end like all the previous ones."**

"**Why, Darkrai, my old friend, are you accusing me of cheating?**" Mewtwo feigned shock, and then chuckled. "**Nay, I would not resort to cheating, after living here for three years, I have had plenty of time to hone my skills. And soon, I shall become the greatest pool player to have lived,**" he mentally shouted, holding his pool cue above his head.

"…**I highly doubt that anyone would believe that one of the world's strongest psychics would be a pool champion without cheating, it just wouldn't seem right.**" Lining up again, he shot once more. Yet the cue ball just missed by a hair, and Darkrai cursed loudly.

"**Either way, did you do the favor I asked you?**" Mewtwo asked as he sunk the eight ball, ending the game.

Darkrai sighed at being beaten….for the hundred-and-thirtieth time. "**Yeah, I made him relive it.**"

"**And?**"

"**The seed has been planted in his mind. Sooner or later, if he's smart enough, he will come to realize the truth,**" he explained.

* * *

After finishing off the meals, the group chatted amongst themselves while waiting for the waitress to return with the bills. And for Mason to down his fifth cup of hot chocolate. Soon enough, the waitress came around with the bills and some mints, ending with Bruce.

"And finally, a thin mint," she said, lowering the silverware in front of Bruce's face.

"Thanks, but no thank you," he said politely, taking the bill off the plate.

"Oh but sir, it's only a tiny little thing."

"I seriously doubt I could eat another bite."

"Oh but sir…..it's only _wafer_ thin."

Bruce sighed, "…Alright, just one," he gave in, taking one mint from the plate. "Thank you."

"Anytime sir," she bowed to him and left once again.

Serenity looked down at her watch, noticing that it was ten thirty-seven. "Damn, we should get going. It's almost time for the match."

After paying for the food, the group took off, heading towards the stadium where Mason's match would take place.

* * *

"Alright, keep it at twenty thousand…No, feet…ok, thanks once again…..we appreciate this. Bye," the professor hung up the phone. Swiveling around in his office chair, he faced the patiently waiting champion. "Well, I've got good news and bad news," he began. "The good news is that they agreed and are able to come."

"And the bad news?" Ash asked.

"They're in different regions, so it will take some time for them to get here. Probably about three or four days till they get here," he explained.

"I see," Ash said. "Then it looks like we have some waiting to do."

"We could always go check up on your friend, if you like?" Krane suggested.

"….yeah, let's do that," Ash got up from his chair and left the room, followed by the professor and Laura, who was keeping her master company while Krane was on the phone.

* * *

"This will be a three-on-three match between Mason Wallace of Salemburg City, and Naughtius Maximus (most of the crowd giggled at his name) from Goldenrod City. There will be no substitutions and will follow traditional Saliera battle style. Naughtius will select his Pokémon first."

"Arcanine," Naughtius called, summoning the fire dog, who materialized with a bark.

"Tauros," Mason yelled, the bull Pokémon materializing on his side of the field, stamping his back legs.

"Begin," the referee dropped her flags, starting the match.

* * *

"**So, this is what you two do all day?**" the figure asked as he rested in the shadows of the feline like creature.

"**Not all day, only when Ash's friends are battling. He's busy at the moment so we will report the battles to him when they finish,**" Mewtwo replied, watching the battle between Mason and Naughtius.

"**And it gets incredibly boring being stuck up here with Mewtwo,**" Zoroark threw her opinion into the conversation, while keeping the illusion shield up.

* * *

Using its horns, tauros managed to push arcanine back to its side after a long deadlock between the two.

"Now, end it with stone edge," Mason called out. A ring of rocks surrounded tauros and were launched at arcanine, striking it all over. The legendary Pokémon cried out in pain and fell to the super effective attack.

"Arcanine is unable to battle; trainers please select your new Pokémon."

"Slaking, take the field."

"Exeggutor, help me out."

"Begin."

"Exeggutor, hit 'em with psychic," Naughtius ordered. The walking coconut tree's eyes glowed blue as she launched a mind crush attack at her opponent. However, the attack visibly bounced off of slaking's chest as he brushed it away.

"Slaking, put them to sleep," slaking took in a deep breath, and let out a terrifying yawn that threatened to put anyone who was foolish enough to look at it to sleep. The poor souls in the crowd who did look felt their eyes grow heavy as a bubble the size of his mouth flew over and popped in exeggutor's face, provoking her to go to bed early.

"Exeggutor, try another psychic before you fall asleep," Naughtius called desperately. The coconut tree with three faces launched another mind crush attack before succumbing to sleep, falling face first onto the floor. Like before, slaking brushed off the attack, but didn't move due to truant. One he felt that he could move again, he turned to his trainer and nodded.

"Alright," Mason grinned, "end it with giga impact." Slaking jumped high up into the air, very high for a large Pokémon like itself. Upon reaching the apex, he became cloaked in a familiar purple glow as gravity took its course, bringing him back down.

* * *

"…**And that, my friends, is how we know the world to be banana-shaped.**"

"**I say, this new learning amazes me, Mewtwo,**" Darkrai grunted as he and Zoroark listened to Mewtwo's words. "**Please do explain again how a mareep's bladder can be used to prevent earthquakes.**"

"**Ah yes, it's quite simple…**" he began, but silenced himself as he looked out towards the stadium Mason was in.

* * *

The dust cleared from the massive impact as slaking got up off the fallen Pokémon. There was no doubt that exeggutor was out cold. The trainers returned their Pokémon and selected two new ones, weezing on Naughtius' side, and porygon-z on Mason's side. For the third time, the referee lowered her hands, signalling the start of the match.

"Weezing, poison them fast with toxic," the two heads released a cloud of black smoke that poisoned the virtual Pokémon upon impact.

"So it's gonna be like that, huh?" Mason muttered, realizing that he was going to have to take down weezing fast. But, it's not like he didn't already do that with the other two Pokémon. "Alright, start things off with rain dance," porygon-z did a small dance, spinning around in circles while a blue orb grew in between its arms, before launching it into the sky. Storm clouds began to form over the arena, and rain started pouring down on the battlefield, but not on the crowd.

"Now, use thunder," Mason declared. A large lightning bolt fell from the heavens, striking weezing on its larger head, causing it to shriek in pain. Suddenly, porygon-z writhed in pain as the poison caused it to lose some health. "Damn, I should end this now," Mason said under his breath. Looking over at his opponent, he noticed that Naughtius had a nervous look on his face.

"Looks like I have no choice, use self-destruct" he ordered. Weezing started to glow red before exploding, sending dust everywhere.

When it cleared, weezing could be seen lying on the ground, out cold. Porygon-Z however, was still floating in the air, a green energy shield around it.

"Weezing is unable to battle, porygon-z wins, "the referee announced as she came out of hiding from behind her bench. "Therefore, Mason will move on to the next round."

* * *

Come five o'clock, round one of the tournament had ended. Serenity and Sylvia had won their battles, making the Saliera league the only one to have all its members move on to the second round, except the champion for he wasn't participating. Now, the remaining participants were gathered in the main stadium to listen to Mr. Goodshow speak again.

"Hello, and congratulations to the winners of the first round," Charles began, looking out at the crowd gathered on the field. "Five hundred and twelve of you stood here two days ago, now there are two hundred and fifty-six of you left."

The crowd in the stands cheered for the remaining participants, and Charles waited for them to quiet down. "The battle style will continue to be the same, but the battles will start at nine tomorrow morning in order to fit have them all in one day. Best of luck trainers in the remaining rounds," he walked off the makeshift stage as the trainers clapped for him.

* * *

"You called for us, sir?" a grunt questioned as he and his co-worker walked into their boss' office. He wore a black sports jacket with a small crest over the heart, and a larger version on the back. The crest being a shield divided into four parts. The top left had a purple capital S in it, the top right was colored black. The bottom left a dark colored legendary bird pokémon, and the bottom right read 'cover the world in shadows'. Purple lines ran along the sleeves of the jacket. He wore black pin striped dress pants with purple lines. Purple fingerless gloves covered his hands, and he had black combat boots as well. A black helmet with a purple visor covered his head, concealing his identity (odst helmet). The girl beside him wore an identical outfit, but instead of pants, she wore a black skirt with purple leggings.

The boss swiveled around in his chair to face them. "Yes, Mathis, Eve, I have an assignment for you two." He was dressed in a purple suit with a purple dress shirt and black tie. He too, wore the black and purple pin stripe dress pants, and black dress shoes. He appeared to be in his late forties, but his hair was grey and slicked back, with a few strands falling in front of his face. A short scar covered his left eye, which was pale in color.

"Mathis, divide your company and tell them to stay undercover in rally points Sierra and Omega. Eve, you divide your company and do the same in rally points Delta and Vulpixtrot. Wait for my order to strike," he ordered.

"Consider it done, Sir Umbra," Eve said as the two saluted.

"Uh, sir, why don't we make an appearance at the tournament now?" Mathis asked.

Umbra looked at Mathis, "No, that's just what the readers will be expecting us to do," he finished, an evil smirk on his face.

* * *

**Authors note: Sorry that took a while, I was busy with other stuff. More plot development. I tried to do a better job on describing the Phanteon, tell me what your thoughts on it were. In the next chapter, more battles, more bad guys, more other stuff...yeah. Constructive criticism is always helpful. And on another note, I got a personal message from a user asking me about the shippings. So, what are your opinions on the non OC shippings, who should be with who. But no Ash shippings, I may or may not already have that covered ;) . Until next time.**


	9. Day Three-Battlefield-Part One

**Authors Note: FINALLY! I finally got around to finishing this chapter, and I have no idea why it took so long, nor do I have much of an excuse to give you. But, it's finally here, and that's gotta count for something. Right?**

**So it begins. The great OC battle of our time. Just thought I'd explain a few things to you before you read this chapter and the rest of day three which will hopefully be posted soon enough. Numero Uno: All battles between OC's, mine and yours were drawn from a hat to see who would be battling who. I had no control over that, except for doing the picking. Numero Dos: The winner of the battle was left up to fate. And fate is the name i gave this quarter i've had for years now...That's right, heads or tails determined the outcome for the battles. Again, I had no doing in that part. But remember, just cause your OC lost doesn't mean they're out of the story. **

* * *

Chapter 9: Day Three: Battlefield-Part One

* * *

"Welcome to round two of the tournament," the referee of stadium one announced, stepping to her post. "This will be a three-on-three battle between June Aquaters from Greenfield, Johto," a young girl of about 15 with brown hair and green eyes stepped onto the left side of the field. She wore a plain green tee, and beige shorts. There was a small ruby hairclip fashioned into a totodile fin in her hair, right above her left eyebrow. "And Mason Wallace of Salemburg City, Saliera," Mason walked onto the right side of the field, adjusting his glasses as he did so.

The two combatants walked to the middle of the field. "It's an honor to meet the daughter of Walter Aquaters," Mason greeted, sticking his hand out.

"And it's an honor to meet you too, Mason," June greeted politefully, shaking his hand.

"There will be no substitutions and will follow traditional Saliera battle style," the referee began, waiting for the trainers to return to their boxes. "Mason shall choose first."

"Tauros, start it up," he called, tossing the pokeball onto the field. The bull started stamping it's rear feet on the ground, waiting for its opponent.

"Weavile, do your best," June called, sending out her dual dark/ice type. Weavile curled his claws into small balls, then uncurled them, repeating the process twice while staring at tauros.

"Begin," the ref announced, lowering her flags in a flash.

"Work up," Mason ordered, giving the first command. June smirked as tauros glowed red momentarily, but it was unnoticed by Mason.

"Wait for it," June commanded. Weavile nodded and remained where he was.

"One more time," Mason ordered another work up. Red cloaked tauros again, and his stats were increased again. "Now, charge in with take down!" Tauros started whipping himself in the rear with his three tails, whipping himself into a frenzy. He took off at weavile, who still had yet to move.

"Dodge him and use night slash," June ordered. As tauros neared, weavile braced himself, left claw glowing crimson. Once tauros was mere feet away, he sidestepped to the right and stuck his left hand out, catching tauros in the side with night slash.

However, what they weren't anticipating was for his hand to be grabbed by tauros' tail once he passed by. Now weavile was being dragged along behind tauros by the hand, being thrown all over the place.

Eventually, weavile was released, coincidentally right in front of June. He was slow getting to his feet, but looked fine overall.

"Are you alright, weavile?" June called. Weavile turned back to his trainer and gave her a reassuring nod, before glaring at tauros, who had taken position in front of Mason again.

"Alright tauros, use work up, one last time," Mason ordered. The familiar red hue surrounded tauros again, raising its attacks. "Alright, now end them with take down!" Just as before, tauros charged towards Weavile, intent on knocking him in.

June waited a few seconds, before issuing her command. "Jump onto his back."

"What?!" Mason uttered in shock as he watched weavile jump onto tauros' back. "Shake it off, tauros!"

Tauros was now bucking wildly, trying its hardest to remove weavile from its back. But weavile had a firm grasp on its mane. All weavile needed was a Stetson hat and he'd look like an official miltank-boy, trying to calm down a rampaging tauros, or just riding it for fun.

"Now weavile, punishment," Mason's eyes widened. Weavile brought his right claw back, glowing purple and smashed it into the back of tauros' head. Tauros cried out in pain and charged forward, nearly knocking weavile off in the process.

"Hit 'em again," June cried. Regaining his balance, weavile brought his right claw back again and struck tauros even harder in the back of the head and back-flipped off. Looking up, he watched as tauros kept charging forward and crashed into one of the walls of field, knocking himself out.

"Tauros is unable to battle, trainers, please select your new Pokémon."

"Lucario, fight for me." "Blissey, help me out." Both trainers shouted at the same time, sending out their respective pokémon. Lucario, who was wearing a green scarf wrapped around its neck, got into a battle stance while blissey chirped her name happily.

"Begin."

"Blissey, start off with light screen and calm mind." Blissey created a small near invisible barrier around herself, as well as raising her special stats.

"Lucario, agility and nasty plot." Lucario raised its special attack and speed at the same time.

"Now Blissey, hit him with attract," Mason ordered. Blissey winked at Lucario and sent stream of hearts at it, but they bounced of harmlessly.

"That's right, she's a girl," June taunted. "Now lucario, take down that light screen with aura sphere!" Lucario began charging up her sphere of energy between her hands, waiting until it was twice the size of her head.

"Blissey, brace for impact!"

Lucario launched her aura sphere at blissey, dust kicking up underneath it as it raced towards its target. The light screen cracked upon impact, but did not shatter. A second aura sphere rocketed towards the shield, successfully shattering it this time, but it dissipated before reaching blissey.

"Now, dual dragon and dark pulse," June called. Lucario charged up a turquoise orb in her left hand, purple rings hovering over her right. Bringing her arms together, she combined the two attacks and launched them at blissey. This time, the combo breaker hit blissey dead on; causing an explosion that shrouded her from view.

Unfortunately for June and lucario, blissey was revealed to only have minor scrapes on her when the dust cleared.

"Softboiled!"

"No, stop them before they can heal!" June shouted to lucario, who began charging an aura sphere. She launched it as fast as she could, barely managing to hit blissey before she could heal. Acting on impulse, lucario dashed towards blissey, delivering a cross chop to her chest, ensuring she went down.

"Blissey is unable to battle, trainers, please select your new Pokémon."

"Jolteon!" "Smeargle!"

The spiky, yellow dog like Pokémon appeared, pawing the ground as she called her name. On Mason's side, the beagle like painter appeared, her tongue hanging out as she held on to her tail.

"Begin."

"Jolteon, start off with thunderbolt," June ordered. Sparks started to fly off jolteon as she launched a bolt of lightning at smeargle. However…

"Protect." Like in the battle months ago, smeargle summoned a green energy shield that the electricity harmlessly bounced off.

"Darn, try using dig," jolteon quickly dug underground, leaving a mound of dirt where she used to be. Unfortunately, it seems June forgot the move that smeargle used to take out Max's manectric.

"A very poor choice of attack. Finish it with earthquake." Like before, smeargle jumped up and slammed into the ground, sending a shockwave through the field, knocking out jolteon who was forced to the surface.

"Jolteon is unable to battle. Trainer June, please select one of your previous two Pokémon."

"Lucario, return to the field," June cried, bringing lucario back into the battle. Lucario took up her battle stance again, glaring ahead at smeargle.

"Begin."

"Lucario, start off with nasty plot and calm mind," June ordered. She complied and raised her stats, awaiting her trainer's next order. But they sure didn't expect what came next.

"Smeargle, use crush grip," Mason stated, causing June's eyes to go wide with shock as two floating, golden hands grabbed Lucario around her waist and started squeezing.

"Only regigigas can learn crush grip," June uttered, watching on as her Pokémon was tightly crushed. "Hang in there lucario," she encouraged, hoping that she wouldn't lose a second Pokémon. Thankfully, steel types, like lucario, are resistant to normal moves, like crush grip, and she was released with minimal damage.

"Good, now, use spike lariat," lucario formed foot-long spikes of pure, aura energy, launching them like a javelin at smeargle. Smeargle managed to dodge a few of them, but the majority landed, nearly knocking her out. "Now finish it with a cross chop!"

Lucario darted forward and leaped into the air, her arms in a crossed formation in front of her chest. Smeargle quickly summoned a protect right in front of lucario as she brought her arms down, making it so that she attacked the shield instead. Lucario pushed against the shield as hard as she could, hoping to break through. The protect eventually gave in, causing lucario to backflip away from the mini explosion. Mid flip, lucario began charging an aura sphere in her hands, and when she was straightened out again, she launched it, giving smeargle no time to react.

The aura sphere detonated right in smeargle's face, knocking her out.

"Smeargle is unable to battle, lucario wins," the referee declared pointing her flag to June's side of the field. "Therefore, June will move on to the third round."

"Well damn, looks like I might be owing some money," Mason sighed, a small smile on his face. For the second time in just months, the elite had been defeated. But for the first time in a long time, a proper defeat.

The crowd roared as the two trainers met in the center to congratulate on another.

"That was an excellent battle June, you and your Pokémon should be very proud of yourselves today," Mason praised, extending his hand to the younger trainer, who shook it without a slightest hesitation. "It feels like I've truly been defeated for the first time in forever. Well, since I met Ashura four years ago that is," he chuckled.

"Thank you Mason, you were a really tough opponent to beat." `

"Well, I've got another match to catch; you're welcome to tag along if you like?"

"Well, if you don't mind, thanks!" June and Mason walked of the field, heading to another stadium as part of the crowd shuffled out, also looking for a new battle.

* * *

An old man in his late fifties stepped into the office occupied by his boss. He was nearly bald, a thin semi ring of grey hair that ran around the back of his head. He was dressed in a grey lab coat with a jubilee of pens in the front pocket, a plain white undershirt, and faded khaki dress pants. A pair of brown dress shoes housed his feet, while a pair of round, thick rimmed glasses sat on his nose. The old man seemed to be one of the only people around the building not wearing purple.

"You called for me sir?" the man asked, his voice soft and tired from lack of sleep. Umbra swiveled around in his chair, eying his head of research and development.

"Ah yes, Sebastian. Please, do sit down," he gestured to one of the chairs in front of the desk. Sebastian thanked him as he sat down, sighing as he relaxed in the comfort of the chair. "So Sebastian, how are you enjoying the new base?"

"I must say, it is impressive. That old bastard, Arch. Clever as he was, he's a fool for leaving his blueprints behind. But, something tells me you didn't invite me here just to chat about our temporary home?" he asked with eyebrows raised.

"You're too smart, you know that Sebastian? Well, you're right. There's another reason I called you here." Umbra got up and strode to the other side of his office, retrieving two glasses and a bottle of scotch. Pouring one for himself and one for Sebastian, he returned to his seat at the desk, handing one drink to the scientist. "Tell me, how is progress going on the new subjects?"

Sebastian smiled as enthusiastically as he could for the state he was in. "It's progressing faster than we'd expected. Subjects 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25 have all been finished and were sent off with Mathis, Eve and their elite's. All that remain are 18 and 19, but they should be finished soon for you."

"Most excellent, well done, Sebastian," the two clinked glasses together and took a sip. "And how about the Pokémon for the grunts?"

"The Pokémon for Mathis and Eve's groups were finished before they left. For the remainder of the grunts, they should be finished soon. We'll be ready to mobilize within two days, give or take."

"Good," Umbra swiveled around in his chair to face the far wall. "You should get some sleep, Sebastian, you look tired."

Sebastian got up and bowed slightly to the back of the chair, before walking out of the office.

* * *

"Flygon is unable to battle, empoleon wins," the referee for stadium two announced, "therefore, Lily Rose Evans shall go on to the third round."

Lily walked up to her defeated enemy, who was dressed in a dragon-like appearance.

The twenty year old stuck out his hand, "well done Lily, that was a good battle."

Lily stuck her hand out and shook it, "thanks Doragon, your dragons were tough to beat."

"So he didn't really win?" June asked Mason as they sat down in the stands of stadium two.

"Yeah, we had orders to let him win," Mason responded in a hushed voice. "Don't tell anyone though; it would be best if the press didn't know about this."

"Don't worry, my lips are sealed," she made a zippering motion over her lips for emphasis. "So, whose match is it anyway?"

"It's between my good buddy Bruce of the Saliera elites, and my other good buddy Serenity, the grass gym leader of Saliera," Mason explained. "You see, if Bruce wins this, I owe him some money….quite a lot of money. And…oh shit," Mason mumbled, bring his hand up over his head.

"What?" June asked, looking around. Not far from them, yet heading their way were two people. The female looked to be about eighteen years old. She had brown hair that fell from underneath her blue bandana in an upside down 'v' formation and blue eyes. She wore a blue shirt with a white blouse underneath, and tight black biker shorts.

The boy was probably a year younger than June. He wore a green golf shirt and khaki shorts. His hair was dark blue and he had purple bags under his eyes, indicating a rough night of sleep.

Max and May Maple stopped one seat away from Mason, looking down at him. Mason kept his hand over his eyes for a few seconds, before looking up at them with his head tilted to the side slightly.

"Yes?" he asked, face devoid of any emotions. Max looked like he was about to say something, but May put a hand on his shoulder.

"Who is Ashura?" she asked sternly, looking at Mason.

"He's the Saliera champion. What's it to you?" he replied bitterly.

"Who is he really?" she asked, louder this time. Mason narrowed his eyes at her

"I really don't see how any of this is your business," he said, standing up so he towered over them. June got up as well, in case something went down.

"What's his connection with Ash Ketchum?" May questioned further. June's eyes widened at the mention of his name, but Mason remained emotionless.

"Well, for one they both start with A. They have black hair. Why, what's your connection with Ash Ketchum?" he retorted.

May got a surprised look in her eyes, before they returned to their stern look. But there was something else in her eyes. "We were acquainted a long time ago, my brother and I traveled with him and Brock through Hoenn and Kanto, but we never really liked him for who he was. We only ever pretended to be on his side. So when he found out, some words were exchanged, and your partner Bruce, just happened to know them by heart."

"Good!" May glared at June when she spoke up. "You went behind his back from the start and betrayed him, hurting him more than you could possibly imagine. And if you think that he's returned and is publicly humiliating you, than you deserve it. You deserve that and more." Even Mason was surprised at June's outburst.

"And you are?" Max snorted.

"June Aquaters. I was actually able to truly win against Mason and advanced to the third round. How far did you make it, little boy?" June said asked.

"That's no way to talk to my brother you little bitch!" May yelled, drawing the attention of some in the crowd.

"Says the bitch who pretended to be friends with someone behind their back!" June retorted.

"Why you-!?" May made a move to slap June in the face, but Mason grabbed her by the arm.

"I'm in no mood to play games with you two, now go on out of here before I call security," Mason said as he tossed May's arm to the side. May huffed and stormed off, dragging Max by the arm.

Mason and June sat back down in their seats, and the crowd went back to whatever they were doing before.

"The hell was that all about?" the two whipped around to see Natalie, Soleil, Luna and Elijah behind them. The newcomers sat down as Mason explained what the siblings wanted.

"Those fools, thinking they'll get something out of us. So, Mason. Who's your new friend?" Elijah asked.

"Hmm. Oh, yes. Guys, this is June Aquaters. She kicked my ass out of the tournament. June, these are my good friends Natalie Hall, Luna and Soleil Ciel, and Elijah Zimmerman." June shook each one's hand as she was introduced.

"Tell me, June. That is, if you don't mind me asking, how do you know Ash Ketchum? You seemed surprised when May brought it up?" Mason asked.

"I've been following his battles for a long time since I was younger. That must have been nearly ten years ago, if I remember correctly," she explained. "I remember when I was six, he passed through my hometown and I had the chance to meet him." She beamed.

"Hey, it's starting!" Luna pointed out. Indeed, the referee was walking onto the field, microphone in his hand.

Once the referee made it to the center of the field, he raised the mic to his mouth. "Pop, pop, popsicle." He paused, looking around at the crowd. "Ice, ice, icicle." Another pause. "Test, test, testing one, two three."

Most of the older people in the crowd started laughing, whilst the younger tilted their head in confusion.

"Hello and welcome to day three of the tournament. This shall be a three-on-three battle between Bruce Ramirez of Ryuu Village," Bruce stepped onto the field, greeted by the cheers of the crowd. "And…."

* * *

**Haha, cliffhanger. Not much to say in this closing authors note...anyone here a big Nightwish fan. Have you guys seen their performance of Ghost Love Score from the End of An Era DVD...I'm currently watching that right now while I write these words. **

**Anyway, next chapter, more battles, more OC's being eliminated (heheheheheh) and the challenger Bruce will have to beat if he want's to win that money. **


	10. Day Three-Battlefield-Part Two

**Authors Note: I'm terribly sorry about this wait, and I shall explain what caused it after this chapter. Just one more thing, I'm pretty sure I mentioned it before, but just because your OC is knocked out of the tournament, it doesn't mean they're out of the story.**

* * *

Chapter 10: Day Three: Battlefield-Part Two

* * *

_"Wait, if you aren't their brother, who are you then?" the brown haired professor asked. The office got quiet as all eyes turned to the raven haired teen, who sighed to himself. _

_"Can you promise me something, professor?" he asked, looking at Krane, who nodded in response. "Promise me you won't freak out, and that you won't tell anyone outside of the people in this room who I am." _

_"Of course," the professor assured the young man. _

_The raven haired teen sighed once more, "My name is-"_

* * *

"Ash, hey Ash!" the professor prodded the teen in the side, trying to wake him up. "Come on, get up. You have to see this!"

Ash reluctantly opened his right eye to see the professor standing by his side, a large grin plastered on his face. "What is it, professor?" he groaned, flipping over on the couch and returning to the darkness.

"Trust me, Ash. You're gonna want to see this," he exclaimed.

Thinking over the choices of sleeping in even more, or going with the professor to see what the excitement was about. Looking down at himself, he noticed he was dressed in nothing but his black dress pants. Grabbing the white version of his long coat from the back of the couch, he got up and followed the professor.

* * *

"Milotic is unable to battle, eelektross wins. Therefore, Drake Westbrook shall be moving on to the third round!" The referee in stadium three declared, ending the battle.

Drake was dressed in dark grey jeans, a navy blue t-shirt with a black pullover jacket. He had shaggy brown hair and deep blue eyes. The blunette met with Drake in the center of to congratulate him on the win.

"Thanks for the battle Serenity, that shiny Milotic of yours is beautiful. As well as a strong wall to overcome," Drake stated, shaking her hand.

"Aww thanks," she blushed. "But we were clearly no match for you. Looks like we have more training to do," Serenity admitted. She wore a light blue, sleeveless summer dress, with a dark blue t-shirt underneath and dark blue leggings. Her long blue wavy hair fell to her mid-back.

The two left the field as the referee prepared to announce the contestants for the next match. "This shall be a three-on-three battle between Molly Burgess of Silverwood," the older sibling of Serenity walked out from the left side tunnel that her sister previously exited out of. She wore a green t-shirt with a Leafeon face print on it and red sweat pants. A green bracelet shaped as a vine wrapped around her the entirety of her left arm.

"And Hotaru Alaina of Pyrite Town." Hotaru walked in from the right tunnel, her flareon seated on her shoulder. Instead of having her hair down like on the first two days, it was tied back with a purple bandana.

"As usual, there are no substitutes, trainer Molly shall select first."

"Leafeon, please help me out," Molly shouted, releasing the verdant Pokémon. After being released, leafeon took in her surroundings, before her eyes fell on her fire counterpart perched on Hotaru's shoulder.

Hotaru cocked her head to look at flareon, who was staring back at the verdant Pokémon. "Up for the challenge girl?" Flareon returned her trainers look and nodded in affirmation before jumping onto the field.

"Leafeon versus flareon," the referee raised the flags above her head, and dropped them in a millisecond. "Begin!"

* * *

"Pop, pop, popsicle." He paused, looking around at the crowd. "Ice, ice, icicle." Another pause. "Test, test, testing one, two three."

Most of the older people in the crowd started laughing, whilst the younger tilted their head in confusion.

"Hello and welcome to day three of the tournament. This shall be a three-on-three battle between Bruce Ramirez of Ryuu Village," Bruce stepped onto the field, dressed in his usual attire greeted by the cheers of the crowd. "And Kyte Puwer of Saffron City!"

Bruce's opponent was just a few years younger than him. He had dark skin, brown eyes and short black hair that was covered by a New York Yankees ball cap, a fictional baseball team from the TV series 'Planet Earth'. A gold chain hung over a black t-shirt, and baggy blue jeans as well as black adidas shoes completed his outfit.

"Kyte shall select his Pokémon first."

"Gallade, help me win this," Kyte cried, throwing the pokeball onto the field. Gallade materialized on the field in a kneeling position, before standing up and crossing his bladelike arms in an x-formation.

"Let's do it, hydreigon," Bruce called, releasing his dragon. The unusually calm brutal Pokémon quietly hovered on the spot in front of her trainer.

"Gallade versus hydreigon, begin!"

"Gallade, let's get it going with swords dance," Kyte said. Gallade's forearms started glowing a light shade of purple as he swung them around in a strange pattern.

"Stand by," Bruce ordered. Hydreigon remained motionless, except for the constant up and down motion of her hovering.

"Gallade, get on the hydra's back!" Kyte shouted. Gallade leaped into the air, heading straight for hydreigon, who had other plans. Hydreigon flew straight up, avoiding gallade as he landed on the ground in front of Bruce. Turning around, gallade saw hydreigon hovering mere feet away, all three heads emotionlessly staring at him.

"Dark pulse." All three of hydreigon's heads opened their maws, a sphere of dark energy building in them. Like a line of cannons, they were fired from right to left. Kyte barley had enough time to issue an order to dodge, which gallade followed, leaping to the left. "Another!" Mason ordered. Realigning her shot, hydreigon charged up another dark pulse.

"Gallade, counter it with focus blast, quick." Gallade quickly launched a sphere of shimmering blue light to battle the dark black sphere. The two attacks met, causing a mini explosion in between the Pokémon.

"Gallade, charge in there with close combat," Kyte commanded. Gallade ran towards hydreigon, who released her attacks upon her trainers command.

"Keep him away with flamethrower and dark pulse." Hydreigon's middle head launched a stream of fire, while the two outer heads rapid fired dark pulses, forcing gallade to move in a circle around her. Gallade continued circling around, jumping, sliding, and side-stepping out of the way of the attacks as he tried to get closer.

"Hydreigon, cut the flamethrower and take him out with draco meteor!" Bruce exclaimed. The main head stopped the flamethrower, and an orange orb started growing in her mouth. Meanwhile, the outer heads were busy trying to trap gallade in one spot. Once the orb was done growing, the brutal Pokémon launched it into the air, watching as it burst apart like a firework, the pieces raining down on the area above gallade.

"Get out of there, quick," Kyte panicked. Gallade turned and ran back in the direction of his trainer, but one of the meteors clipped him in the back of his right leg, causing an explosion that sent him flying forward, into another impact zone. The second explosion took more of a toll on gallade, being that more of the meteor hit him.

"Can you stand?" Kyte asked. Slowly, gallade managed to get back up to his feet, only to come face to faces with hydreigon again. The two had an intense stare down. The arena went silent, the only noise being the muffled cheers from the other distant arenas. Sweat rolled down gallade's face as he stared at his end.

"Flamethrower."

The three heads reared back in sync, all launching the familiar torrent of fire at gallade, who was too tired to react, letting the flames engulf his bruised body. But the warrior didn't once let out a scream. As the flames died down, gallade's now blackened body could be seen, as he collapsed to one knee, before falling headfirst.

"Gallade is unable to battle, hydreigon wins. Trainers, please select your new Pokémon."

"You did good, gallade, thank you," Kyte praised, returning his fallen warrior. His hand moved to his belt as he selected a new ball.

"Well done, hydreigon, return," Bruce congratulated, recalling the hydra. Like his opponent he reached for a new pokeball as well.

"Let's do it, flygon/ venusaur, help me win this," the two trainers called, tossing their pokéballs to the field.

From Bruce's side emerged the mystic Pokémon, buzzing away happily to himself as he flapped his wings rapidly.

Over on Kyte's side emerged the kanto grass starter, venusaur. Unlike most, his was a sickly shade of green and had orange petals instead of the traditional red. The crowd marveled at the wonder of the shiny starter.

"Flygon versus venusaur, begin."

* * *

"Escavalier is unable to battle, Typhlosion is the winner. Trainers, please send out your final Pokémon," the referee of stadium three announced.

The fallen escavalier was recalled into its pokeball by a teenage boy of about fifteen years old. He had shaggy blonde hair and blue eyes like the ocean. He wore a white t-shirt with a golden symbol for miracles, blue jeans, white tennis shoes and a necklace with a cross on it around his neck. The boy reached down to his belt for his next Pokémon.

Typhlosion was recalled into its ball by a trainer just two years older than her opponent. She had long dirty blonde hair that went down to her mid back, and green eyes. She wore a pink blouse and a white skirt, which had pink flowers on it, as well as pink flats. She too reached for her next pokeball.

"Lucario," both trainers called as they threw their pokéballs forward. The lucario on the boys side looked energetic and pumped up to fight, while the girls lucario looked more calm and stoic like her, as well as older.

"Lucario versus lucario, begin."

"Aura sphere," the boy shouted. His lucario began charging up the attack, while their opponents had yet to make a move. Once the sphere was a good enough size, he launched it towards the opponent.

Just as the sphere was a few feet from hitting, the girl uttered a command. "Roll." Just as it was about to make contact, her lucario rolled out of the way. The aura sphere shot past her and collided into the wall, leaving a few cracks behind.

"Hit 'em with close combat," she ordered. Her lucario sprinted towards the enemy, ready to deliver some damage. The boy's lucario had to act on impulse as the other was too fast, and was attacking him before his trainer could give orders. Every kick she delivered was blocked, each punch knocked aside. When he had the chance, he could occasionally get retaliate with an attack. But they were usually pushed aside as well.

The scuffle lasted for minutes, and both sides were starting to get tired. More so for the boy's lucario, since he was on the receiving end for most of the attacks. Eventually, the female lucario got an opening and delivered a chop to his neck, catching him off guard and leaving him gasping for air. She followed up with a swift kick to the head, knocking him out of the match.

"Gage's lucario is unable to battle. Therefore, Rebecca Silverstone will advance to the third round."

Both lucario were returned by their respective trainers as they walked towards the center of the field. Gage congratulated her on the win, while Rebecca gave him a short compliment in return. As she left the field and entered the tunnel, she met the sharp, grey eyes of the next participant waiting in the tunnel. Unnerved, she continued on to the locker room.

* * *

"Sceptile is unable to battle, espeon wins. Therefore, Hotaru Alaina will move on to the second round." Hotaru and Molly met in the center of the field and shook hands, before clearing out so the next battle could take place. The referee also left the field, and was replaced by a new one.

"The battle between Obizoth Badian," an eighteen year old boy with blue eyes and messy blue hair stepped onto the left side of the field. He wore blue jeans and a black t-shirt under a grey and blue hoodie. Blue runners and a pokeball shaped pendant completed his look as he took his stance in the trainer box.

"And Aaron Hall shall now commence." An older male with black hair and black eyes walked onto the right side of the field. He was a tall and muscular looking fellow, wearing a black leather jacket over a black t-shirt, blue jeans and black tennis shoes. He wore a mysteriously designed pendant over his t-shirt.

"By now, you should know the rules. Aaron will select first," the referee declared.

Aaron retrieved a pokeball from his jacket pocket and enlarged it. "Scizor, do your best." The crimson steel/bug type materialized in the white light, rapidly beating his wings.

"Rhyperior, help me out," Obizoth called, summoning the rock beast who gave off a mighty roar.

"Rhyperior versus Scizor, begin."

"Scizor, use agility./Rhyperior, sandstorm."

On Aaron's side, scizor was dashing back and forth in front of her trainer, gradually getting faster each time. On the other side of the field, rhyperior gave off another roar as she summoned a sandstorm in the middle of the field.

"Alright scizor, into the storm," Aaron ordered. Faster than most eyes could track, scizor vanished from sight and entered the raging sandstorm. By now, rhyperior had already dug underground and was waiting for the perfect time to strike.

"Scizor," Aaron yelled. "If you can hear me, you're on your own for this one."

Inside the sandstorm, scizor nodded to herself as she searched for signs of the opponent. Thankfully, she didn't take any damage from the storm due to being part steel. However, being part steel didn't save her from the rock that smashed into her back, sending her sprawling to the ground.

Regaining her composure, she turned around to see a massive shadow disappear back underground. Gingerly, she made her way over to the hole and peered inside. Scizor pulled her head back just in time to watch a large boulder rocket past her head. Sensing the ground shake, she hovered back as the massive beast emerged from the hole, landing on the ground with a solid thump. Swinging her arm around, rhyperior tried to hit scizor with a hammer arm. Scizor just dodged to the side before charging forward with a bullet punch that landed on rhyperior's chin. The drill Pokémon fell backwards, but twisted her body and dug back underground.

Deciding against looking for rhyperior again, scizor stayed put, focusing on the rhythm of the ground. Opening her eyes, she delivered a bullet punch to rhyperior as she jumped out of the ground, about to attack. The punch knocked rhyperior to the ground, but before she could get up, she was quickly bombarded by more punches.

Outside the sandstorm, the crowd, two trainers and the referee were anxiously waiting for the outcome. Ultimately, the sand died down, and when it cleared, scizor could be seen standing beside a fainted rhyperior.

"Rhyperior is unable to battle, trainers, please select your new Pokémon."

"Bastiodon, do your best./ Spiritomb, help me out."

From Aaron's side of the field, the shield pokémon gave off a short war cry, signaling his appearance. On Obizoth's, the forbidden Pokémon gave off a low, eerie sound as he materialized.

"Bastiodon versus spiritomb, begin."

* * *

Mathis looked around the alleyway, checking for any signs of life. When he was sure he was the only one in it, he raised his silver watch to his mouth, pushing his short brown hair out of his eyes with the other hand. Instead of his usual Shadow wear, which would have made him very suspicious looking, he wore a plain white tee and khaki shorts.

"This is Mathis; we're good to go in rally point Sierra. My party leader in Omega says they're ready as well," he spoke into the watch. Static could be heard in his ear, before he could make out the voice on the other side.

"This is Eve; we're A-Okay on this end."

"Good, stand by and wait for my signal. We need to send a strong message to the world," a third voice entered the conversation.

"You hear that, Mathis? Don't screw this mission up as well," Eve taunted.

"Excuse me?" he yelled. "If I remember correctly, the colosseum raid was YOUR fault, little girl!"

"COME ON, that was a long time ago. When are you ever going to drop that?!"

"Four years isn't that long, you know?"

"Oh yeah, well at least I didn't-"

"EITHER YOU SHUT THE HELL UP RIGHT NOW, OR I WILL RECALL BOTH OF YOU AND SEND IN WOLFE!" Umbra screamed into his headset.

Mathis and Eve were silent for a good, few seconds, before responding in unison. "Yes sir."

"Good, now wait patiently for the signal."

* * *

The two dragons collided into each other, creating an explosion that sent dust and tiny pebbles flying around. On one side, a Garchomp, badly bruised with minor cuts all over gasped for air while down on one knee. On the other side of the field, an equally bruised salamence panted as tried to stretch her injured wings.

The two had been going at it for a solid ten minutes, and being the final battle of the match, neither wanted to give up. It was devastating blow after blow for each Pokémon, but the determination to win for their trainer was too strong.

"Come on salamence, I know you can do this," Bruce called out over the bustle of the crowd, trying to encourage his starter to hang on. Salamence opened one eye and glared at garchomp.

"You got this garchomp, come on, just don't give in," Kyte urged, causing garchomp to open his eyes and glare at the enemy.

The crowd was silenced, and everyone, whether in the stands or around the world, watched in shock as the blue Pokémon fell forward, knocked out.

* * *

**You know, I kind of feel bad ending this on another cliff hanger. But you don't give a sh*t about that, do you. You wan't to know why you waited so long for an update for this pile of crap. Well, here it is.**

**I am currently working on at least seven other stories at the moment, and after I published chapter nine for this story, I had and idea overload and just worked on those stories for the longest time. That was the primary reason. The secondary reason was that I started watching an anime called -Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai- (which is awesome, by the way) and something you should know about me is when I find an anime I really like, I usually download all the episodes, watch it in one or two days and then get sad when it's over...shut up. **

**But yeah, those are most of the main reasons, then there was other sh*t like school projects, f*cking billions of them. And it can be pretty difficult writing a chapter that is pretty much all battles. **

**But besides that, the other stories I'm working on won't be published here for a long time. But, I can give you guys a rough summary of one, as I would like to know what you guys would think about it. **

**Anyway, it doesn't have a title yet, but it was inspired by ****Soul Eater.**** Teens go to a special school to learn a type of aura based on one of the seventeen types (fire, water, grass etc...). They train there with their pokemon to basically learn pokemon moves, and use them to fight evil. **

**Well, please do tell me if you like the idea and this chapter. **

**Until next time, hopefully not as long.**

**P.S, in chapter 8, i mistakenly put Serenity as the grass gym leader and Molly as the water gym leader, it's the opposite. **


	11. Day Three-Battlefield-Part Three

**Authors Note: Chapter 11 is here...that is all. Forgive my lateness, but I had school work to attend to. **

* * *

Chapter 11: Day Three-Battlefield-Part Three

* * *

Looking up from the journal on her desk, the young woman pushed her golden streaked, black hair out of her eyes. The morning sunlight poured in through the open blinds, illuminating her room. Resting her pen beside the book, she gazed around at the pictures that decorated her room. She smiled as she recounted her journey just years prior, fighting crime and hanging out with her best friends. But her eyes softened and got a bit teary as they rested on the picture frame on her desk.

It was an aged picture of a younger her and her friends. On the right was a seventeen year old boy with dark blue hair and eyes. It looked like he was trying to keep a calm composure, but failing as a tiny smile played on his lips. Next to him was a younger boy with messy blonde hair and glasses. He had no problem showing off his smile as he leaned on the older boy. It looked as though the blonde had just made a funny remark before the photo was taken.

On the left side were two girls. The older one had light blue hair and cold, grey eyes. She seemed to be completely devoid of all emotions. The younger girl had reddish-pink hair and pale blue eyes. She was holding on to the older girl's arm, trying to get her to cheer up.

The girl smiled to herself as she remembered how closed off the blunette was. Next in the photo were the lovebirds of the group. A girl with light red hair, the same age as her was smiling as her boyfriend planted a small kiss on her left cheek. She wondered if she would ever find love like that.

Her eyes wandered to the final male of the group. His messy raven hair covered his right eye as he laughed at the two youngest girls in front of him. He had an arm on the shoulder of each twin, laughing as the two argued with each other. One had white hair and red eyes, the other black hair and blue eyes. And then there was her. She blushed, just like her old self was blushing, as she looked at herself leaning on the raven haired boys shoulder, her arm around his waist. She never knew if he had acknowledged that it was there in the first place, but it didn't matter to her, since he didn't seem to mind.

Slowly, she grabbed the picture off the desk and hugged it tightly to her chest. It had been so long since she'd seen them all.

"Saliera, huh?" she whispered to herself. Opening her eyes, she spotted her old backpack hanging on the rack. The mightyena lying on her bed raised its head, sensing what her trainer was thinking.

* * *

Smiling to himself, Ash carefully folded the photo before stuffing it back in his wallet. Memories flooded his thoughts, but he pushed them to the back of his mind. Raising his head, he swept his gaze across the training battlefield that he first laid eyes on five years ago.

On the far right side of the field, his garchomp and charizard were having a skirmish in the means of physical power. Charizard had a firm grip on garchomp's claws, his powerful arm muscles flexing as he pushed back with all his might. On the other side, garchomp was trying his best to knock charizard back. The two were butting heads together, giving off low growls as they glared at the opposing pair of eyes just inches away.

Eventually, garchomp broke free of the deadlock and grabbed charizard under the right arm. Using all of his strength, the land shark managed to flip charizard over his shoulder. After giving off a triumphant roar, he helped charizard back to his feet. The two gave each other a nod before returning to their brawl.

Taking his eyes off the two powerhouses, Ash looked up at the sky. To the untrained eye, all that could be seen was the clouds and the sun lying in the middle of the sky. But as Ash focused a bit more, his eyes taking on a light blue tint, he could see a solitary figure.

If he had to guess, he would say that Pidgeot was roughly around a mile above the ground. Extending his right arm skyward, he pointed his finger and rotated his arm in a circular motion, signaling to the flying type.

The avian performed a small loop, showing that she acknowledged, before gaining more altitude. Ash smiled. Her eyesight was superb to be able to see his hand signals from so far up. Ash watched her retreating figure for a few more seconds, before it was too hard to see her even with his enhanced vision.

In a large oak tree not far from the battlefield, on one of the lower branches sat his psychic friend Mewtwo. Well, more like he hovered above the branch. Doing what he liked to do best, he had his eyes closed in concentration. His big, purple tail would occasionally flicker from time to time. As if sensing that he was being watched, he opened his eyes and locked them with Ash's. The trainer gave a small nod to the psychic, who returned it and went back to concentrating.

Leaning up against the tree below him was Zoroark. Like Mewtwo, she had her eyes closed. Unlike Mewtwo though, she was lost, deep in sleep. Ash had called for the two just under an hour ago. Using his psychic powers, Mewtwo had teleported the two to the lab. Strangely enough, she was still sleeping when they were teleported over, so they just let her sleep beside the oak tree.

Behind him, Ash could barely hear the soft patter of feet behind him. The footsteps came to a halt to his right. Out of the corner of his eye, Ash could see Laura standing to his side. Like him, she too was watching the training session.

**'So, Master, Ray is going to be okay,'** the feminine voice appeared in his head after a momentary silence. Ash turned his head to the side to meet Laura's gaze.

Ash smiled softly. **'Yes, he is. And it's all thanks to you,'** he knelt down and embraced her in a hug. "Thank you," he spoke without their aura communication. Laura looked taken back for a second, but returned the hug.

**'But Master, I really didn't do much,'** Laura tried to reason with Ash. He broke off from the hug and looked her in the eyes, still kneeling.

**'Now you and I both know that's not true. If it weren't for you, he would have died long ago. So don't try and be so modest,' **Ash scolded her lightly. Laura looked down in shame, but Ash just patted her on the head. Standing up straight, the champion turned out to face his teammates again.

**'I don't think it's a good idea for ****_you_****, of all people to tell me not to be modest, Master,' **Laura joked with him, and the two shared a chuckle. Another wave of silence washed over the two, before it was once again broken by the aura Pokémon.

**'Master Ash. I don't mean to bring you down, but I've been having this horrible feeling inside me for days now. Something bad is going to happen soon, I just know it.'**

**'I know Laura, I can feel it too.' **Ash turned around, gazing out towards the south. Laura and the rest of his nearby Pokémon followed his gaze as well. **'The board is set, the pieces are moving.'**

* * *

Sebastian jogged down the halls of Shadow's base, ignoring the chatter of grunts around him as he made his way to his destination. He didn't have time to deal with them, nor did they have time to waste just chattering amongst themselves. They needed to get ready. Turning the corner, he nearly collided face to face with one of the grunts. Pausing only to snap at the grunt, telling him to watch where he was walking, he continued his journey.

After a minute or two of jogging from the lab, the old man stopped outside a specific door, panting slightly and trying to regain his breath. After composing himself, he knocked on the iron door three times, waiting for his boss to call him in. Stepping into the office, he closed the heavy door behind him and walked towards the desk. As usual, Umbra sat in his revolving chair facing the wall. It wasn't until Sebastian stopped that he turned around.

"What can I do for you Sebastian?" Umbra asked, looking the scientist in the eyes while motioning for him to sit. Sebastian nodded to him before taking his seat.

"Sir, I have great news for you," Sebastian began. "The drug that we released two days ago."

"Ah yes," Umbra raised his eyebrows. "What about it?"

"Well, as it turns out, the drug will be taking effect much sooner than we anticipated."

Umbra's eyes widened slightly, before he returned to his usual calm composure, except for the small smile on his lips. "And when will the drug take effect?"

"We think that it will be less than two days from now, instead of the originally anticipated five days," Sebastian answered.

"Good," Umbra stood up and faced his wall again. "Keep at the good work, Sebastian."

Sebastian bowed to his bosses back before exiting the room, leaving Umbra alone once more. Umbra continued to stare at the wall, before closing his eyes and tilting his head downwards.

"Wolfe," he whispered. He heard a faint popping noise behind him, and knew that he was no longer alone. The two were silent, and Umbra could feel his gaze burning a hole in his back.

"Prepare for combat, we move out tomorrow." The figure made no motions and just as quickly as he appeared, he disappeared with another faint sound.

"Just you wait, Ashura. Just as you crushed my dreams…" he clenched his right fist and opened his eyes, a determined look on his face.

"I will crush your world!"

* * *

The two dragons collided into each other, creating an explosion that sent dust and tiny pebbles flying around. On one side, a Garchomp, badly bruised with minor cuts all over gasped for air while down on one knee. On the other side of the field, an equally bruised salamence panted as tried to stretch her injured wings.

The two had been going at it for a solid ten minutes, and being the final battle of the match, neither wanted to give up. It was devastating blow after blow for each Pokémon, but the determination to win for their trainer was too strong.

"Come on salamence, I know you can do this," Bruce called out over the bustle of the crowd, trying to encourage his starter to hang on. Salamence opened one eye and glared at garchomp.

"You got this garchomp, come on, just don't give in," Kyte urged, causing garchomp to open his eyes and glare at the enemy.

The crowd was silenced, and everyone, whether in the stands or around the world, watched in shock as the blue Pokémon fell forward, knocked out.

The referee raised the flag in his right hand. "Garchomp is unable to battle, salamence wins. Therefore, Bruce shall advance to round three."

The crowd burst out into cheers as Bruce and Kyte approached each other to shake hands. Well, all except for a certain normal elite four member.

"Congratulations on the win Bruce and best of luck in the remainder of the tournament," Kyte said, shaking Bruce's hand.

"Thanks Kyte, you should be proud, you nearly had me beat back there," Bruce admitted. "Now if you'll excuse me." Bruce shifted his gaze towards the crowd, scanning it over for that familiar face. Eventually, he spotted Mason amongst the recognizable group, except for one girl he didn't know. Once Mason locked eyes with him, Bruce raised his right hand and started rubbing his thumb against his middle and index fingers, as if money were there.

In response, Mason raised his right hand and extended a specific finger in Bruce's direction.

* * *

"Hello, and welcome to the end of round two," Charles spoke into the microphone, which echoed around the stadium. Day three of the tournament had finally ended, and the sun was casting a golden glow over the desert as it sank beyond the horizon. The victors of round two had gathered on the field of the stadium, while those who lost were now up in the stands with the rest of the crowd…or had gone home. The makeshift stage had been set up back in the main stadium, with Charles Goodshow behind his podium addressing the remaining competitors.

"Yesterday, there were two hundred and fifty-six of you. Today, only one hundred and twenty-eight stand before me." The crowd started cheering loudly for the victors, who raised their hands and waved to the crowd. "Now, for round three of the tournament, we shall be trying something new!" Goodshow exclaimed, gaining the undivided attention of the participants.

"In the previous rounds, you all fought three on three single battles. But for round three, we shall be hosting tag team battles!" Charles threw his arms up in the air as the crowd once again started cheering.

"All of you have already been paired up, so listen closely for you and your partner's names," Charles pulled a piece of paper out from his coat pocket and began to unfold it.

"Team number one: Nathaniel Boondock 'Saint', and Drake Westbrook." The two men scoured the crowd, looking for each other before locking eyes. Drake proceeded to where Nathaniel was and the two immediately started chatting with one another.

"Team number two: June Aquaters, and Alyssa Fair." Alyssa opened one of her eyes and looked around. She saw June waving her arm in the air at her, and slowly walked over to her, silently standing beside her.

"Team number three: Rebecca Silverstone and Arianna Griffith." Turning around, Rebecca met the same pair of cold, grey eyes from earlier in the morning behind her. Rebecca gave her a nod and a smile, and Arianna returned it with a short nod as well.

"Team number four: Natalie Hall and Hotaru Alaina." Hotaru made her way to Natalie and gave a short bow; her flareon almost fell off her shoulder.

"Team number five: Lily Rose Evans, and Aaron Hall." The two partners found one another and shook hands.

"Team six: Lucian Goyo, and Britney Bernarth." Sinnoh's psychic elite and Saliera's rock gym leader greeted one another.

"Team seven: Roy Anderson and Bruce Ramirez. Team eight, Pierre Burgess and Eclipse Silverline. Team nine, Cassia Rovida and Rachael Walker. Team ten: Paul Slaid and Gary Oak." Charles continued announcing the names for ten minutes, and over sixty teams were announced. Finally, only two people were left to assign.

"And last but not least, team sixty-fou-" Charles was cut off by two high pitched squeals as the twin sisters raced towards each other and embraced. "Luna and Soleil Ciel…." He finished awkwardly.

'You have got to be kidding me?' Mason thought as he watched the twins jump up and down in their embrace, the crowd around him clapping for the teams.

"And so, competitors, that concludes this mini-ceremony. So please, enjoy the rest of the night, and get well rested for tomorrow. I propose that you spend some time with your partner and get to know them and their battle strategy. Oh!" he raised a finger, "but I wouldn't give away too much info." And with a wink, he walked off the stage to the clapping of the audience.

* * *

**Authors note: I regret to inform you that the updates will be put on hold for a while again. Exams and culminating tasks will be occurring for the next few weeks. Also, people complaining about the amount of OC's, I'm sorry, I should have listed this as OC-centric in the summary. But, the last of the 'main' OC's, if you will, were introduced in this chapter. I know the amount is probably unbearable, but, well,...I got nothing. Also, Ash will be having stronger appearances from here on out.**

**Also, I know I had Ash use Aura in this chapter. But do note that he will NOT be a super over powered badass aura guardian. He can only do minor things like talk with Laura through aura and use enhanced vision. **

**Next Chapter**

**Day Four-Let the games begin.**


	12. Day Four-Let the Games Begin

**Author's note: Sorry once again. I'm not really doing good with keeping consistent chapter updates. Works been a pain, but there's also the fact that I'm staying with relatives, most of whom I haven't seen for over a decade. But the story will not be abandoned. I thank anyone who is still following this story, but I can't say how long it will be until the next update. It would probably be best to wait until the story is finished and then read it again. But that's up to you. So, without further interruptions, chapter 12.**

* * *

Chapter 12: Day Four-Let the Games Begin

* * *

It was another hot day under the summer sun in Saliera. The time was just a little after nine in the morning, so things would more than likely get more intense later in the day. It was the fourth day of the tournament, and a strange feeling was passing through most of the participants. Almost as if it was a sixth sense.

Things were about to get interesting.

This was the first time the concept of a tag team battle had been used in such a prestigious tournament. As Charles had suggested, all of the competitors had met up with their partner after the ceremony and hung out, had supper or trained together. After a goodnights rest, the teams were ready to do battle.

"To my right, we have the Green Team, consisting of Hotaru Alaina from Pyrite Town in Orre, and Natalie Hall from Kakariko Village in Saliera," the referee announced. The two girls walked in side by side and took their place at their designated trainer box. "And to my left, we have the Yellow Team , consisting of Dave Hietala from Saffron City in Kanto, and Kira Iommi from Cianwood City in Johto."

"Each participant shall use two Pokémon each, making this battle a four on four. As always, there are no substitutions," the ref shifted her gaze between the two teams. "Will the trainers please ready their pokéballs."

The four trainers selected a ball and readied it, waiting for the signal from the ref. In a usual single battle, one trainer would select their Pokémon after the other, giving them an advantage. However, in double battles, all the trainers would reveal their Pokémon at the same time.

"Go!"

A chorus of 'fight for me', or 'help me win this' echoed on the field as the four trainers summoned their Pokémon. On Team Green, Hotaru sent out her dragonair, while Natalie sent out froslass. On Team Yellow, an electivire and galvantula belonging to Dave and Kira respectively took their positions.

"Trainers at the ready…and begin!" the referee shouted, lowering her arm.

"Dragonair, use dragon dance," Hotaru cried. To her right, Natalie ordered froslass to use protect. What she didn't expect was froslass to jump onto dragonair's coiled figure and summon a green shield around the both of them. It was just in time too, as a large lightning bolt and a blob of purple goo were denied entrance by the green shield.

"You take care of the galvantula, we'll take the electivire," Natalie instructed, ordering froslass to launch an ice shard at electivire.

"Got it! Dragonair, use flamethrower on galvantula," the dragon serpent launched a stream of fire at the electric spider. However, the bug scurried out of the way upon command.

"Electivire, use thunder on yourself," Dave commanded. The electric Pokémon nodded and proceeded to electrocute itself. Off to the side, Kira caught on to his plan.

"You too, galvantula. Use thunderbolt on electivire," the spider launched a bolt of lightning at its partner, further increasing the voltage. All the while, electivire seemed to be in no pain what so ever. Instead, it looked like he was enjoying it, as if the electricity were merely a bath for him.

"Ahh shit," Natalie grumbled under her breath. Electivire's motordrive ability was taking effect. The electricity stopped, leaving only a golden glow around a stronger looking electivire.

"Now electivire, use thunder punch on froslass," like a bullet, electivire charged forward, his right arm drawn back with sparks flying off of it. When he was close enough, he shot his arm forward, knocking straight into froslass's small body. The ghost type was sent flying into the ground, kicking up a small dust cloud upon impact.

"Froslass!" Natalie shouted, calling out to her Pokémon. Luckily, froslass emerged sporting only a few scratches. "Force them to a distance with shadow ball," she ordered. Froslass began charging a shadowy orb in between her hands. "Hotaru, try and force them together," she told her partner.

"Right," Hotaru nodded. "Dragonair, flamethrower on galvantula, make them cluster." Dragonair launched another stream of flames at the electric spider that was still waiting patiently for a new set of orders. Meanwhile, froslass had also launched a barrage of shadow balls, keeping electivire away for the time being. Eventually, the two electric types found themselves back to back, with froslass on their right side and dragonair on the left.

"Now, freeze them with blizzard," Natalie ordered. Froslass pulled back her arms and sent a wall of frozen ice at the two Pokémon.

"Dragonair, burn them with fire blast," Hotaru commanded. Dragonair reared his head back and launched a kanji shaped flame at the electric types.

Just as the two attacks were about to collide with the targets, the trainers from Team Yellow ordered their Pokémon out of the way. Electivire zipped out of the line of attack with ease, but galvantula, being closer to the fire blast, had his leg singed by the tip of the attack.

Fire met ice and caused an explosion in the middle of the field, however none were hurt by the attack. Except for the spider, whose leg received a nasty burn.

"Electivire, finish froslass with a thunder and fire combination," electivire took off once again, slamming his fists into froslass, one blazing with fire, the other crackling with electricity. Froslass was thrown across the field, landing at Natalie's feet. By now, the ghost Pokémon looked like she could barely stay conscious after taking such a harsh beating.

"Froslass, take electivire with you. Destiny bond!" Natalie called. Using the remaining strength that she had, froslass raised he head off the ground and looked at electivire, her eyes turning a grim shade of purple. Yet before she could lock eyes with him, electivire jumped out of the way, in turn making froslass lock eyes instead with the unsuspecting spider. Just like her, galvantula's eyes turned purple before the two fell unconscious in sync.

"Galvantula and froslass are unable to battle. Trainers Kira and Natalie, please select your final Pokémon," the referee announced. Returning their fallen warriors, the two selected their next Pokémon and tossed their capsule to the field.

On Natalie's side, a rather large for its species spiritomb was released, giving off a low guttural growl at its opponents. Yet it seemed to have a greater impact on the younger members of the audience as most of them whimpered at the sound, covering their faces in their parent's shirt. Natalie sheepishly rubbed the back of her head at this.

On the other side of the field, Kira had released his hitmonchan, who had been repeatedly punching the air, as if fighting an invisible foe. However, in this tournament, the fighting isn't put on hold when a Pokémon is knocked out in a tag battle. So it was evident that the two were shocked when they had to dodge an attack shortly after being released.

"Spiritomb, regroup with dragonair." The forbidden Pokémon made its way over to the dragon, who was busy launching flamethrowers at their opponents.

"Oh no you don't. Electivire, use thunder punch on spiritomb," like a bullet he launched forth, his fists about to collide with spiritomb. Fortunately, depending on whose side you're on, spiritomb managed to raise a protect to stop the oncoming attack.

"Now hitmonchan, use ice punch on dragonair." Hitmonchan, who had managed to sneak around the main action, was now the center of attention as he landed a frozen punch on the serpent.

Dragonair hissed in pain at the attack and lashed his tail out in retaliation, wrapping it around the fighting type's midsection. Dragging hitmonchan to his face, dragonair launched a point blank flamethrower on the fighter, who used his gloves as a shield. Once the attack let up, hitmonchan delivered another set of ice punches to dragonair's face.

Rearing his head back in shock and pain, hitmonchan was released from the grip on impulse. The fighter backed off a few steps and watched on as dragonair was enclosed in a case of ice, from head to tail. The onlookers watched in awe, or, in Hotaru's case, horror, as the dragon Pokémon was turned into a marvelous ice sculpture.

"Dragonair has been rendered unable to battle. Trainer Hotaru, please select your ne-""Wait!"

The referee was cut short by Natalie's shout, pointing towards the frozen Pokémon. The stadium was hushed into silence, and those who were close enough could hear a soft cracking sound emanating from the ice sculpture. Sure enough, a small crack had formed on the ice around the head area, growing into a large network of cracks with each passing second.

Finally, the ice that surrounded his head shattered, allowing his cry to reach the ears of everyone watching. Not a few seconds had passed since the ice broke that dragonair became cloaked in a shining white light, even the rest of his body that was trapped under ice was glowing. But the rest of the ice was quickly smashed as well, allowing the body to change shape, going from a long serpentine figure, to a bulkier bipedal creature, with small wings and two stubby arms.

Roaring his name for all to here, Dragonite flexed his muscles and glared at his opponents, huffing a small cloud of smoke through his nostrils. Electivire and hitmonchan looked a little unnerved at the fact that they were now facing a pseudo legendary.

"Alright Dragonite!" Hotaru called out, catching the dragon's attention. "You finally evolved!" She said with joy. Dragonite gave out a happy roar in agreement before turning his head back to the two Pokémon on the battlefield.

"Now spiritomb, use hypnosis," taking advantage of the sudden evolution, spiritomb had made its way around the enemy and launched the hypnosis at electivire, sending him into a deep sleep.

"Finish him with outrage." Basked in a ruby aura, dragonite charged forward, slamming into electivire before switching targets and hitting hitmonchan head on. When the dust cleared around the two Pokémon, it was clear that they were both knocked out, swirls in their eyes.

"Hitmonchan and electivire are unable to battle. Trainer Dave, please release your final Pokémon."

"Kingdra, help us out."

Unfortunately, as soon as the Pokémon was released, she immediately went up in a cloud of dust. Dragonite did not hesitate to attack, still under the effect of the outrage. She was out of the match faster than one could say pancakes.

"All the Pokémon from the Yellow Team have been knocked out. The Green Team is the victor for this round."

* * *

Salemburg city, Saliera's largest city, and arguably the biggest, cleanest and most technologically advanced city on the planet. Considering that it was the largest, more specifically, the only port city in Saliera, it attracted tourists in by the boat load. Plus the fact that it was home to one of Saliera's own elite four made it even more popular.

It had pretty much everything a trainer could hope for in a city. Affordable yet beautiful apartments, training grounds located in multiple parts of the city, and the fan favorite, the battle tower to the north, visible from everywhere in the city. Even coordinator's flocked to the city as well, since it was home to one of the top contest halls in all the regions. Not to mention all of the other feature's, like movie theaters, sports arenas, as well as an amusement park.

But the city's main feature had to be the Millennium Park.

The park was a twenty square kilometer meadow, located smack in the center of Salemburg city, with a large lake in the middle and patches of trees scattered throughout the area. A sandy beach surrounded the lake, and hundreds of families often gathered at this getaway during hot summer days. There were a few bike trails that lead from one side of the park, weaved around through the trees and out the other.

So, on a hot summer day like this, it wasn't uncommon for the park to be flourishing, with people and Pokémon alike. What was uncommon, however, was the large group of people walking out of the densest portion of the forest, all dressed in black and purple sports jackets and dress pants, each with a black helmet that covered their identity.

There had to be around sixty or seventy of them, following one person who was more than likely the leader. The exodus out of the forest had managed to capture the attention of a good population of the people in the park. Not far away from the group was an off duty Officer Jenny, having lunch on one of the park benches. When she caught eye of the suspicious group of people, she swiftly stood up and approached them, her left hand on her only pokeball, and her right on her radio.

The leader noticed her and issued for his group to stop moving. Once she was only a short distance away, he closed the gap between them, giving her a short bow.

"Hi there," the Jenny said nervously, eyeing the large group of people behind the man. Most were directing their vision at her, others at the rest of the people in the park.

"It's a lovely afternoon we're having, isn't it Jenny?" the man said, eyeing their surroundings. Jenny only narrowed her eyes more. "Oh, where are my manners," he chuckled, shaking his head lightly. "My name is Mathis Kurasin."

"Is there something I could help you with, Mathis?" the Jenny asked, glaring at him with distrust in her eyes.

Mathis shifted slightly on his feet and responded with a sigh, "Yes there is actually. I was kind of hoping you could make our job easier and surrender this city to us."

Jenny chuckled slightly. "You think I would really just let you take over the city." Eyeing the group behind him again, she added "plus, I think you would need a lot more people than this little posse you have going on here."

Mathis tilted his helmet to the side. "Now what makes you think that we're alone?" he questioned.

Just as a confused look crossed her face, two deafening blasts echoed through the park. The ground shook furiously, almost making Jenny lose her balance. Whipping her head around to the source, she was met with a scene of utter horror.

Many kilometers to the north, the top of the battle tower was billowing black smoke. A gaping hole covered the south side, with fire spewing out of it, and one could guess there was another hole out of sight due to the other plume of smoke. Screams pierced her ears from all around the park. Debris could still be seen falling off the sides of the building. It wasn't long before the entire tower finally gave out, collapsing in a tsunami of dust.

"Such a shame. You could have made things so much easier for us." Reaching for her radio, the officer turned around to confront Mathis when she was met with a solid right hook, knocking her out cold. She collapsed in a limp heap on the grass as Mathis shook his fist a few times.

Turning to his subordinates, he shouted over the commotion at the top of his lungs "The city is ours to take! Show them no mercy!"

The black clad soldiers gave off a multitude of war cries, releasing their shadow consumed Pokémon. Each covered in a ghastly purple aura. Each with a look of pure, cold hate in their eyes. Each ready to destroy.

And then, all hell broke loose.

* * *

"The tag battle between the Red Team, consisting of Bruce Ramirez from Ryuu village, Saliera, and Roy Anderson from Blackthorn City in Johto," the Red Team waved to the crowd, earning a round of cheers and applause. "And the Blue Team, consisting of Thorsten Albrecksston from Iglace, Saliera, and Lilja Andréasson from Snowpoint City, Sinnoh," the crowd cheered equally as loud for the Blue Team as well. "Shall now commence. Trainers, please ready your pokéballs."

The four trainers selected their Pokémon and held them at the ready, staring down their opponents. And when the referee signaled for it, they lobbed the capsule into the air, releasing their partners.

"Let's do it garchomp!" "Hit 'em hard, weavile!" "Rapidash, rise!" "Show them whose boss reuniclus!"

From the Red side, Bruce released his trusty garchomp, while Roy released a very sharp clawed weavile. On the Blue side, Lilja's rapidash stood at attention, while Thorsten's reuniclus floated around their side.

"Trainers at the ready." The referee looked side to side, making sure that they were ready to begin the battle. The tension was so thick, that if she took the knife out of her back pocket, she could probably cut a piece out of it.

"STOOOOOOP!"

Everyone lost whatever focus they had at the high pitched shriek and turned to the point of origin. Looking behind him, Bruce found Cassia running up behind him from the Red tunnel.

"Stop the battle!" she yelled, reaching Bruce's side. Ignoring all the curious gazes she received, she instantly grabbed onto his right arm, yelling "you need to see this," as she dragged him with her, not really giving him a choice.

"And what appears to be the remains of the Salemburg battle tower, it's now just ruins as you can see the firefighters are still trying to put the blaze out." The TV switched to show a live video feed of a group of firefighters and their different water Pokémon trying to put out a raging fire in Salemburg's commercial district. The video switched once more to an amateur video showing the actual collapsing of the tower from an adjacent building.

"And we have received word that Salemburg is not the only one that is under attack, as the unknown terrorists have also been spotted in Iglace, Kakariko village, as well as Ryuu village." The picture changed to an overhead view of the jungles surrounding Ryuu lit ablaze. A few black clad soldiers could be seen, ordering fire types to attack anything that moved.

"Mason, Natalie and Arianna have already left for their homes. It's best that you…hey, wait! Bruce you should stay and wait for help to go with you!" Cassia's words were lost as Bruce ran out of the tunnel, back onto the battlefield, recalling garchomp and releasing salamence. Hopping onto her back, the two took off south, faster than they had ever gone before.

"Shit…" Cassia muttered, watching him take off. Turning to the crowd, she shouted to get their attention. "All right people, listen up! Here's the situation…"

* * *

**As it turns out, Michael Bay was filming at the battle tower that day. Wrong time, wrong place eh?**

**Anyway, as I mentioned in the first authors note, I can't predict an update date, but hopefully not too long. I'll be chugging away at this story every chance that I get. Constructive reviews are always welcome, and if you have an oc that you would like to make a small cameo, please pm me about it. I do have an estimated amount of chapters though, and the story should be roughly about 25 or so in length. But that is just an estimate.**

**Until next time. **


	13. Day Four-Laying Plans

**Authors Note: Well, that chapter was written faster than the last. But then again, it is slightly shorter. Anyway, chapter 13.**

**Disclaimer-I haven't put a disclaimer up in a while, but I'm sure you know what it is I'm supposed to say here anyway.**

* * *

Chapter 13: Day Four-Laying Plans

* * *

Due to most of the participants being in the crowd during the time of the attack, not many knew exactly what they were being summoned to the main arena for. Yet, there were a few who had seen the news before, and rumors were spread. Even while they waited, people were whispering of the unknown terrorist attack. So now they stood ready. Nearly five hundred of the world's best trainers, stood before the four champions and the remainder of the Saliera league. The quiet whispers and chatter was silenced by Andrew Marks, the steel gym leader clearing his throat.

"Now, I realize that there are some…rumors going around. And I'm confident that most of you have already heard them by now." More murmurs broke out as people started to confirm with one another. "But I am here to put all those rumors to rest." His statement caught the attention of the trainers and they were sent into a hush once again.

"Yes, it's true that our region of Saliera was attacked less than an hour ago." Cries of shock broke out amongst the crowd and Andrew had to yell to get them silenced again. "As of right now, we do not know who or which group is behind the attack, or if it's all the same group that is behind this. But we do have a prime suspect."

The crowd once again began whispering, names like 'Rocket' or 'Galactic' reoccurring as Andrew stepped back and was replaced with Sylvia, the electric gym leader. "Three years ago, the region of Orre was attacked by terrorists. Judging by your confused expressions, I take it none of you have heard of these events." The trainers nodded, except for the few who were from Orre, remembering certain events from years ago. "The situation was meant to be kept off the record from the public, and it looks like they did a good job at that at least. The terrorist teams that you know of took part in this crisis; however, there was a different team. One that wasn't known of before."

"They go by the name of 'Shadow', and they hail from the Orre region as well. We previously thought that they were finished three years ago, but there were signs of their return these past months. Unlike Team Rocket, or say Team Magma, these people are more experienced than that." At the confused looks she received, she continued. "Unlike the low level grunts that Team Rocket would send to do their dirty work, the grunts of Shadow would level the power of their admins."

"Their Pokémon are on a level that could rival that of an elite four member. We don't know how they managed it, but they found a way to corrupt their Pokémon's hearts, turning them into a much darker and evil version of themselves, as well as enhancing their power far beyond that of their species. No fear, no reason, nothing but anger and hate." There were more cries of outrage from the crowd at this information.

"What do we do?" One of the younger participants asked, her voice wavering slightly.

"We fight them back to wherever they came," Elijah announced, earning a few nods and shouts of agreement. "Currently, there are a little fewer than five hundred of you, as some have decided to leave the league grounds after their defeat in the tournament. We've already split you in to four groups of ninety trainers. If a champion calls your name, you are in their group. Group One will follow Cynthia to Salemburg city, Group Two will head to Ryuu Village with Lance. Group Three goes to Kakariko village with Alder, and Group Four goes with Steven to Iglace. Those who weren't placed in one of the four groups will remain here to wait on standby. If you don't have a flying Pokémon, pair up with someone who can take the both of you.

"Use this time to retrieve your best Pokémon from the centers, as well as stock up on potions and heals. For now, they will be free of charge due to the crisis. Make sure you are back within thirty minutes." With the conclusion of his directions, Cynthia stepped forward, taking out her list and calling the names of the trainers in her group. Once they heard their name, they took off to the Pokémon centers.

Behind the champions, Antonio walked up to the two youngest members of the Saliera league. "Luna, Soleil," he whispered, not wanting to let the contestants hear. "We need you two to stay here with the other trainers. It's likely that Shadow chose to attack these locations since they are the hometowns of the four elite members. They could just be using this to split them up and unleash their true goals, so we'll need help back here." The two girls looked disheartened that they wouldn't be able to take part in the battle, but nodded none the less.

Within minutes, the champions had finished their lists and the trainers that were chosen had left to prepare, along with the champions. The remaining hundred or so, as well as the twins, stayed back to let the selected finish faster.

* * *

Thankfully, there were multiple centers located within the arenas, each equipped with a pokémart. It made it easier for the large number of trainers to collect their bearings and Pokémon without one or to Pokémon centers being swarmed with hundreds of trainers at a time.

"Ten minutes left people, let's go!" Cynthia shouted, before exiting the center with her supplies. The others quickened their pace.

"Hey, I don't think you're gonna need that." Looking to the owner of the voice, Ty West saw an older man with short black hair packing beside him. Realizing that he was talking about the food packs in his hand, he placed them back on the shelf before grabbing some water bottles.

"You're not going to need those either." Ty turned and gave him a questioning look. "Trust me, the battles not going to last long. We have champions and elites fighting with us, the only things you're really going to need are potions to heal your Pokémon," Aaron answered.

"Did you hear nothing of what they just said up there," a new voice entered in nonchalantly. Both heads turned to see a young woman with red streaked silver hair staring at the both of them, already done packing.

"What do you mean?" Ty asked her.

"These aren't the usual pathetic grunts employed by Team Rocket. Their Pokémon supposedly rival the power of an elite four member. If they know that much about them, then it's quite obvious that the Saliera league has a history with them. Plus the fact that the Orre crisis was years ago, so the terrorists are bound to have improved their technology, so wouldn't their Pokémon be stronger too?" Xana explained. "I guarantee you, this will not be an easy battle for either side." With that, she and a great number of the others left the center, running back to the main stadium.

The two boys finished their packing and left as well, not wanting to be stuck behind.

* * *

"Everyone in Group One, please release and mount your flying Pokémon," Cynthia announced as she mounted her togekiss. The entire first group got on the backs of their flying types, with a few mounting the same one together.

"Remember trainers," Andrew shouted, shifting on the back of his Skarmory. "We may very well be the last hope of saving these towns. We need to act fast and put them down as soon as possible. Just remember not to let your guard down, and don't get caught down by yourself."

"Group One, launch!" And with that, all of the flying types took off at once. The force of their wings created a small yet powerful windstorm that nearly knocked some of the remaining trainers off their feet. Once the first group was out of sight, the process was repeated with group Two, groups Three and Four following shortly after, leaving the remaining hundred or so trainers and the twins in the stadium.

* * *

"Sir, a multiple large groups of trainers have been spotted flying out of the main stadium, all heading in four different directions."

Umbra made his way over to the set of screens where the grunt had called him from. The grunt rewinded the image on one of the screens to show the four groups flying out of the center stadium, one after another.

"With Ashura out of the region, and the strongest of his forces scattered, there will be nothing to stand in my way," he whispered delightfully to himself. "Call Sebastian, have him ready my two subjects. And when you're done with that, get the remainder of the assault squad mobilized."

"Yes Sir"

* * *

"Sorry but we're going to have to cut the introductions short," Ash hastily explained as the glass doors of the lab slid open. The two trainers waiting beside Professor Krane looked up at the speaker.

"Ah yes. Boys, this is Ash 'Ashura' Ketchum, the current champion of the Saliera region," Krane motioned the two younger males towards Ash. "Ash, this is Wes Leo, and Michael Ryūto," Krane waved his hand towards the two males. Wes, the older of the two had greyish hair and wore a large blue coat, with black pants underneath. Michael, the younger one had spiky red hair with a blue head band wrapping around it. He wore a yellow vest with a black long sleeve underneath, as well as baggy blue pants.

"Nice to meet the two of you. Now, if you have flying Pokémon, please release them now, we have to get going," Ash instructed releasing his pidgeot and pulling himself onto her back. The two trainers noticed something shifting in his makeshift cloth backpack as Michael released a fearow, and Wes released an altaria. "We'll be back," Ash said to Krane, and the three trainers kicked off the ground, heading in a southern direction.

After two minutes of flying, Wes decided it was the appropriate time to break the silence. "You mind me asking why you called me here, all the way from Slania?" he asked.

"To be honest, I thought I would have more time to ask you as well," Ash responded. "The Professor tells me that you two have had some past experiences with shadow Pokémon, correct?"

"Yeah, the first shadow Pokémon incident must have been seven years ago, and Wes handled that one. Then two years later, there was another shadow Pokémon incident, which I helped resolve. Why?" Michael asked.

"Because three years ago, there was another shadow Pokémon crisis in the Orre region. Long story short, I think that the remnants of Snagem and Cipher, the two teams you disbanded have reformed into a new group called Shadow, the ones that I faced three years ago. They were on a much bigger quest than just corrupting Pokémon. They were after something of incredible worth in Orre."

"I had hoped to have a simple chat with the two of you, but unfortunately, Shadow has attacked Saliera, my new home region, which is where we're heading."

"Well you can count on us," Michael said enthusiastically, giving Ash a thumbs up.

Wes nodded, "Any chance to fight those scumbags is worth it, you have my support."

"And you have my thanks," Ash gave the two a smile. "Now then, if their leader is still Umbra, then it's more than certain he is using the preliminary attacks as a diversion. He attacked Salemburg City, Ryuu Village, Kakariko Village and Iglace, the hometowns of my four elites," Ash explained, filling the two in on the details. "If I know them as well as I do, then they have already gone to protect their homes, which is understandable, but they more than likely left in a hurry. So they are probably going alone."

"Odds are, the rest of my league has order for the trainers at the tournament to act as reinforcements for them, so they have all probably departed by now as well. It's best that we head for the league stadiums. Since he lured my elites out of there, it makes sense that he is thinking of attacking it. For what purpose, I still do not know."

"Maybe he's just pissed off that you shut down his operations last time?" Michael suggested.

Ash made a humming sound in agreement, looking down as land disappeared from underneath the, replaced by the deep blue of the endless ocean ahead. "Let's just hope he doesn't have another grand scheme in mind."

* * *

**I know i've been hinting at this for a while now, but to confirm, this is actually the sequel to another story I'm working on right now. Next chapter, we finally get to the clusterfuck that will be the four battles. Well, most of you already knew who the two trainers coming to meet Ash were. A lot of you actually got it many chapters ago. But now they're on their way to the fight. And we can't forget about the other trainer who left for Saliera as well. If you spot a typo or any mistake, let me know so I can fix it. Constructive ****criticism and positive reviews are always welcome. ****Next chapter should be up before the end of my life, so, be patient until then please.**

**Next time, Chapter 14-Symphony of Destruction**

**Until next time, MasterJJ**


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